United Nations Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD) releases every year an annual report with the aim of fostering the transparency of maritime markets and analysing relevant developments. This post refers to “The Review of Maritime Transport” for 2012 which covers data and events from January 2011 until June 2012. In this post we present an extract from the UNCTAD 2012 report regarding seaboarne trade by cargo type.
Upon survey of all cargo holds after a transport of sulphur cargo, serious corrosion was found. On the inclined plates of the hopper tanks and the lower stool of the transverse bulkhead, extensive damage in shape of groove corrosion was found with depth up to 9mm in places. This incident information refers to a 17,427 GRT Bulk Carrier in 1997.
The process of manufacturing Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) from iron ore and the subsequent hot briquetting procedures generate unwanted by-products in the form of dust and broken chips during most of the stages. Some manufacturers recover these materials and offer them for shipment. Historically, such cargoes have mainly originated from Venezuela and Trinidad, although shipments have also been made from the United States, Mexico and Libya. This cargo has been responsible for a number of casualties in the past, most notably the bulk carrier YTHAN in 2004 in which six crew members lost their lives during explosions that occurred in four of her five cargo holds and which also resulted in the loss of the vessel.
2 dead, 7 missing after ship capsizes |Society |chinadaily.com.cn
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Officer of the Watch 