The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Sub-Committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers has agreed new safety guidance on shipping bauxite.
The guidance will be circulated to shippers, terminal operators, shipowners, operators, charterers and shipmasters, urging that extreme care and appropriate action be taken when handling and carrying bauxite in bulk.
The circular outlines new test methods and schedules for bauxite cargoes that will be introduced after the next scheduled updating of the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes Code. It warns that some bauxite cargoes with a large proportion of smaller particles may present a risk caused by moisture and should be treated as category A cargoes — cargoes prone to liquefy.
Around 100 million tonnes of bauxite is transported by sea annually.
The IMO’s work on the safety of bauxite was undertaken after the loss of the 56,000-dwt Bulk Jupiter (built 2006), which was fully laden with a cargo of bauxite when it sank off the coast of Vietnam in early 2015 with the loss of 19 lives.
