Shipping’s battery blindspot: boxships put at risk of fire by regulation gap
- Under current rules smaller batteries do not need to be declared if they meet certain requirements
- Yet vast quantities can be shipped in a single container without any declaration
- Proposal suggests a weight threshold above which carriers must be notified of cargo
With container fires among the most significant hazards for boxships, several countries and industry bodies have called on the IMO to close a potentially dangerous gap in the regulations
