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TT Club urges port operators to heighten safety practices

TT Club urges port operators to heighten safety practices
TT Club, transport and logistics insurance provider, has urged port operators to focus more on safety as the club’s data has shown that 68% of the insurance claims came from preventable accidents.

The club added that a further 14% of claims were from poor or insufficient maintenance. The remainder were weather related.

The extensive analysis by the club also generated data that showed a total of over 9,500 claims over a seven-year period totalled some $400m and covered bodily injury, property and equipment damage and liability.

“It is clear,” said Phillip Emmanuel, regional director Asia-Pacific of TT Club. “Many of these incidents are avoidable if operators were to pay greater attention to some key safety processes, install more available technology to help prevent collisions and give a higher standard to training to their employees.”

Emmanuel continued: “The reduction of claims assists the efficiency and profitability of many operators. It is not just the unforeseen costs of such accidents and the crucial eradication of injury to staff and third parties that results from good risk management.”

He further argued that the “reputation of the cargo handling organisation is enhanced through an improved safety record.”

TT Club noted that 31% of the quay crane damage was a result of crane boom collisions, either crane-to-crane or the crane boom hitting a vessel.

“There is a good choice of effective boom anti-collision sensors on the market, which if installed professionally and maintained correctly would avert a large number of these accidents,” he noted.

Likewise much of the cost of theft can be alleviated by employing improved security regimes. These may involve physical barriers such as better fencing and more CCTVs but should also include more effective processes such as paperwork checks and IT anti-hacking software.