A series of fatal accidents involving crew and dock workers have occurred during the process of reinforcing and dismantling shipping containers on top of container ocean freight. Although measures have been taken to prevent collapse and falling whenever working on top of ocean logistics containers, these measures are cumbersome, slow down ship loading and unloading speed, and affect efficiency.
The process is cumbersome and difficult, which can easily lead to accidents and non-fatal personal injuries. New equipment, such as semi-automatic and dual-function twist locks, can only provide partial protection in eliminating hazards. Therefore, the height of container stack cannot exceed four layers on the deck and requires a safe working area at the pier for them to use and move.
However, the safety of container reinforcement must be emphasized in the initial stage, rather than relying on safe operational methods after the ship is built. There are several successful concepts currently available:
Open-hatch cargo holds. The designs of these shipping logistics vessels usually have column guides to fully loaded stowage and generally do not require work on top of containers.
Flexibility in container arrangement. These designs involve column guides on the deck, which can change their length to accommodate the use of containers of different lengths, such as 20 feet, 40 feet, or 40 feet.
Deck column guides. Deck column guides mean either open-hatch cargo holds or open-hatch vessels still with deck designs and column guides with hatch covers. Although deck column guides have a good safety and reinforcement record, they still cause some inconvenience during the process of loading and unloading different-length containers that are frequently used. These are movable personnel carriers, which are used for tying personnel to the top of shipping logistics containers. They are often used on container gantry cranes, which are convenient to operate without relying on shore cranes, enabling tying or untying to continue without being affected or causing delay.
Binding frames. These are permanent or partial binding frames that can be approached without climbing to the top of the container to reach the deck twist locks.
They should also intensify the use and development of safe reinforcement systems for shipping logistics designs, aimed at eliminating the necessity for crew or dock workers to operate heavy and bulky reinforcement facilities on top of containers or other similar hazards.
In addition to these alternative arrangements, if greater attention is paid to achieving container reinforcement during the shipbuilding design stage without relying on operational methods, new ideas must be promoted. Improving personal safety and efficiency during reinforcement and reducing losses from container drops will provide financial and environmental benefits.