News: Cargo and cargo hold ventilation guide launched by Standard Club, Intercargo and DNV GL

Standard Club, Intercargo, and DNV GL, the world’s leading classification society, have collaborated to launch a new cargo and cargo hold ventilation guide to provide vessel masters and crew with an understanding of different ventilation requirements for bulk cargoes.

In today’s market, ships carry a wide variety of dry cargoes, all with different ventilation requirements depending on the cargo characteristic, voyage, and the weather conditions. Proper ventilation is essential to preventing damage to the cargo and to ensure the safety of the crew and vessel in bulk carriers.

Standard Club continues to see high numbers of wet cargo damage claims, caused either by fresh water or seawater, but the most serious damage is due to condensation. Inadequate ventilation and poor stowage may result in caked and mouldy dry cargoes, or rusty steel cargoes.

This guide aims to provide ship’s masters and crew with a clear and concise understanding of the ventilation requirements for various cargoes and covers the main aspects on how and when to ventilate to control the humidity and to remove flammable and toxic gases released from cargoes. In addition, fumigation issues and the entry of ship’s personnel into confined spaces are addressed. The guide also sets out the regulatory requirements related to ventilation and includes case studies which illustrate practical examples on what can go wrong when correct ventilation and stowage procedures are not followed.

The guide is available to view and download on the right.

Standard Club, along with DNV GL and Intercargo, hosted a live webinar on Friday 11 December in which contributors discussed the importance of understanding the most common ventilation systems, how to deal with ventilation problems, emerging claims trends, and answered live audience questions on the subject. Watch the recording here.

Categories: Loss Prevention, Cargo