One of the key differentiators between commercial insurers and mutuals, where the insured parties are ‘members’ and thus part-owners of the mutual, is the latter’s emphasis on loss prevention and risk management. Most mutual insurers, while cooperative in settling legitimate claims, are driven nonetheless by a strong desire to reduce claims payouts and so help to mitigate premiums for members.<\/p>\n
For almost 40 years TT Club, a mutual insurer created in the pioneering days of intermodal container transport to meet insurance needs not covered by traditional shipowners’ P&I Clubs, has been providing its members with practical loss prevention advice.<\/p>\n
Andrew Webster, TT Club’s director of loss prevention, explains the objective of TT’s loss prevention programme “is to help members by publicising best practice along with legal and industry developments, ” he says. “We actively work with industry bodies to promote and implement risk management initiatives.”<\/p>\n
TT Club is currently running a worldwide series of awareness seminars on hazardous goods and the IMDG code in conjunction with ICHCA International, but Webster emphasises that there are many other live issues for the Club, particularly applicable to businesses in the port industry.<\/p>\n
“In addition to the IMDG seminars, which have revealed a somewhat alarming lack of awareness surrounding the subject, we’ve recently run courses on ISPS Code compliance and there are other topics that need revisiting constantly, ” says Webster. “The whole area around cargo security and delivery, with insufficiently robust procedures that fail to protect PIN numbers, is an issue we keep urging port operators to focus on.”<\/p>\n
LEARN IT BY ROTE TT Club has identified a number of basic checks that it would like to think were learned by rote by all those with responsibility for risk management in the ports industry. “To adapt an old military saying, ” Webster observes, “if it can be moved, check it, and if it can’t be moved, check it anyway.”<\/p>\n
On IMDG cargoes, TT Club is reminding port operators that the provisions of the IMDG Code are mandatory on everyone involved in the transport chain. In ports, that means careful attention must be paid to how and where such goods are stored, not just in sheds but also in containers in the stacking yard. Ports can also assist by checking that the placarding on containers is legible, in accordance with the cargo declaration and that any storage or segregation instructions are followed.<\/p>\n
Cargo security, while always a concern for responsible operators, is now positioned much higher on the scale of senior management concerns, in the wake of a raft of security legislation originating primarily from the IMO and the United States. But TT Club regularly reminds its members that compliance is about more than policies and perimeters.<\/p>\n
The security culture needs to percolate through to a third ‘p’ – people.<\/p>\n
Webster advises port operators: “Know your people and invest in security training for them. Most potential risks can be overcome by alert, trained staff if they are fully aware of just why it’s important to stick to procedures and be wary of exceptions.”<\/p>\n
This, he says, is particularly critical in controlling the interchange of cargo and equipment with third parties. Last year, PS highlighted security concerns surrounding the growing use of PIN numbers as a form of identification for drivers delivering to or collecting from port premises. The importance of procedures to verify the integrity of PIN numbers, as well as to thoroughly check the documentation authorising the movement of goods and containers on and off the facility, remains vital.<\/p>\n
TT Club maintains a series of ‘Stop Loss’ guidance sheets for members, covering a range of topical liability issues from overweight intermodal units to the theft of attractive cargoes. Three maxims perhaps summarise the advice TT Club offers:<\/p>\n
never accept promises – only valid original documents never accept unwritten or unclear instructions notify the Club immediately if these conditions cannot be met.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The basics of loss prevention are as relevant today as they have always been, counsels TT Club.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-6932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-concessions-investments"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6932"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=6932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}