BIC Magazine n°4/2022

To visit us on Stand L28, you can register here

October 11th, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BIC is pleased to announce that the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) is this year’s recipient of the BIC Award. Presented at a gala evening at Naples Shipping Week, the award was received by ISWAN CEO Simon Grainge.  The award was presented by BIC Secretary General Douglas Owen, assisted by Italian Coast Guard Commandant and Chairman of the Italian Seafarer’s Welfare Association, Vice Admiral Nicola Carlone.

Best known for its “SeafarerHelp” service, a 24-hour/365-day confidential multilingual helpline, ISWAN has been providing support for seafarers since its founding in 2013. ISWAN also provides hardship grants for seafarers in crisis, develops resources on seafarer welfare and offers training on managing maritime mental health.  The organization helps seafarers facing abandonment, detention, suicidal thoughts, health issues, family crises or by simply providing advice or a listening ear.

Between February 2020 and February 2022, ISWAN provided support to over 50,000 seafarers during a time when COVID-19 prevented many from seeing their families for months or even years on end. During this same period, ISWAN supported over 21,000 seafarers with repatriation and collaborated with industry and other maritime welfare organizations to form the Seafarers International Relief Fund.

“The BIC Award was founded to recognize outstanding achievement in the areas of safety, security, standardization and sustainability, and ISWAN clearly qualifies in more than one of those categories,” stated BIC secretary general Douglas Owen. “Seafarers, of which there are 1.6 million, face challenges unlike workers in almost any other industry: far from home and support networks, often lacking proper healthcare or support in defending their rights. The need to support our seafarers and their families, to look after seafarers’ physical and mental health, has never been greater, with the twin crises of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine being just the most recent challenges.”

ISWAN’s CEO Simon Grainge said: ‘We are incredibly proud to receive this award. Our helpline team and international staff worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to support the seafarers and families affected, but we are always here, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for anyone who needs us. We are constantly improving our services – adding new helpline contact channels, undertaking further training for our staff and working with our partners in the maritime welfare sector – to ensure that seafarers and their families around the world receive the best possible support when they need it most.

About ISWAN

Founded by ITF Seafarers’ Trust, The Seafarers’ Charity, The TK Foundation and Trafigura Foundation in 2013, the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) is an international maritime charity which works to improve the lives of seafarers and their families with services, resources, strategies and advocacy. ISWAN operates SeafarerHelp, a free, confidential, 24/7/365, multilingual helpline providing help and support to seafarers and their families around the world. ISWAN has a presence in India and the Philippines to provide humanitarian support in these regions, and administers a number of relief funds to provide financial support to seafarers and their families in crisis or with urgent needs. ISWAN provides Maritime Mental Health Awareness training, offering both in-house trainings for companies and open access sessions for individuals or smaller groups. The organization is funded by grants from foundations, membership subscriptions, sponsorship and earned income.

About BIC

The Bureau International des Containers (BIC) was founded under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce in 1933 as a neutral, non-profit, international organization.  The BIC seeks to promote efficiency, safety, security, standardization, and sustainability in the container supply chain and today has over 2600 container owning and operating members in 125 countries.  Publisher of the BIC Code Register since 1970, the BIC also operates the BoxTech Global Container Database (bic-boxtech.org), providing API-accessible equipment details to help improve efficiency and safety in the supply chain, as well as the BIC Facility Code Database, providing harmonized codes to identify over 17,000 container facilities in 190 countries.  The BIC also operates the Global ACEP Database under the guidance of the IMO. The BIC holds official observer status as an NGO at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the World Customs Organization (WCO), and the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) and works closely with the ISO and other standards organizations.  Learn more at www.bic-code.org.

The Cargo Integrity Group of Seven Updates its Container Safety Guidance 

The need for increased integrity in the global supply chain persists. The Cargo Integrity Group has updated its Quick Guide to the CTU Code and once more urges all involved in intermodal container transport to pay heed.

4th October 2022

The multi-faceted group of originally five, now seven industry organisations, produced a Quick Guide to the IMO/ILO/UNECE Code of Practice for Packing of Cargo Transport Units (CTU Code) some two years ago.  The Quick Guide is designed to assist those responsible for packing containers and accurately declaring details of their contents to abide by the often-complex regulations contained in the voluminous CTU Code itself.  There is also a useful Checklist of actions required by packers and shippers of containers.

The Group believes that awareness of the CTU Code is pivotal to achieving safe and secure transport and has followed up the Quick Guide’s publication with provision of its full text in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish and Italian.  An update has now been made available, taking account of feedback, and is downloadable for free HERE

FIATA Director General Stéphane Graber commented, “Providing individuals responsible for packing containers, and in some cases for preparing documentation and declarations, with easier access to all-important safety guidelines in their own language, is key in order to make available practical cutting edge knowledge of packing. Such information goes beyond maritime operations, reflecting  the complexities of intermodal transport in modern day supply chains, and is key to keeping cargo logistics running efficiently.”

Failure to follow the CTU Code advice puts the people who keep the supply chain moving at risk, leading to incidents and accidents that are still all too common. The Group believes that such tragedies in the supply chain are to be avoided – most vividly demonstrated by the too frequent occurrence of container ship fires – higher standards of cargo integrity.

“We are providing clearer guidance through our revised Quick Guide and Checklist to help those responsible for packing cargo transport units, and in particular intermodal containers, to understand the standards expected in international trade,” stated James Hookham, Director of Global Shippers Forum.  “The revised editions recognise the endorsement of all the partner organisations now active in the Cargo Integrity Group and their joint commitment to dissemination of this advice to their respective memberships and wider networks,” he concluded.

Cargo Integrity Group Media Contacts

Bureau International des Containers (BIC)
Douglas Owen, Secretary General, [email protected]

Container Owners Association (COA)
Patrick Hicks, Secretary, [email protected]

Global Shippers Forum (GSF)
James Hookham, Secretary General, [email protected]

International Cargo Handling Co-ordination Association (ICHCA International)
Maria Udy, Media contact, Portcare International, [email protected]

FIATA (International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations)
Stéphane Graber, Director General, [email protected]

TT Club
Peter Owen, Media contact, Portcare International, [email protected]

World Shipping Council (WSC)
Anna Larsson, Communications Director, [email protected]

BIC magazine – N°3/2022

We are happy to invite you on Friday 30 September to the “Intermodality Worldwide” event that the Bureau International des Containers (BIC) organized together with the Centro Internazionale Studi Containers (C.I.S.CO.) within the Naples Shipping Week.

The event in English will took place at the Cruise Terminal and develops the theme “Intermodality Worldwide” through 3 panels. 

See the program here.

Naples is taking over the baton of the international week of shipping and sea culture, with the same organisational team – led by the Propeller Club Port of Naples and ClickutilityTeam – involving local and national partners, both public and private, as always.

Among the other international events on the occasion of Naples Shipping Week, the BIC is happy to invite you on Friday 30 September to the “Intermodality Worldwide” event that we organized together with the Centro Internazionale Studi Containers (C.I.S.CO.) within the Naples Shipping Week. The event in English will took place at the Cruise Terminal and develops the theme “Intermodality Worldwide”.

BIC magazine – N°2/2022

A new agreement between the International Port Community Systems Association (IPCSA) and the Bureau International des Containers (BIC) will help to deliver much-needed clarity in the supply chain, assisting users in identifying the container facility where their cargo is currently located.

IPCSA has announced that it will incorporate the BIC Facility Codes API into the Network of Trusted Networks (NoTN) which has been developed by IPCSA and its members to provide predictability, visibility and certainty within the supply chain.

“Our agreement with the Bureau International des Containers will see IPCSA members using the BIC’s API to obtain both BIC Facility Codes and SMDG terminal codes as standard in messaging through the NoTN,” said IPCSA secretary general Richard Morton. “This will eliminate the confusion that has happened in the past due to there being many different codes for the same location. Now PCS users will be able to find exactly which facility a given container is in, which facilities it has passed through, and where it is going, with no ambiguity or uncertainty.”

“The use of non-standard codes has been a longstanding issue in the industry, with many shipping lines, container lessors, terminals and others having adopted their own ‘in-house’ versions over decades, said Douglas Owen of BIC. “This lack of standardisation stood as an impediment to the digitalisation aims of our industry.”

BIC has undertaken a major harmonisation exercise in standardising the codes used to identify facilities such as depots, container yards, M&R vendors and other supply chain facilities. This process harmonised and enhanced the data from some 40,000+ facilities and provided around 17,000 unique facilities, as well as providing the latitude and longitude for those facilities, each now being identified by a unique nine-character code.  This identifier is used in electronic messages such as gate events, interchanges, repair status and most recently, container tracking messages.

“The entire industry benefits when supply chain participants adopt standards. With the help of our partners, BIC conducted a major review to make available a set of standard codes that allow all parties to communicate with one another more efficiently,” Douglas Owen explained.“We are seeing a lot of momentum with the carriers and other parties adopting the harmonised codes; IPSCA’s adoption in the NoTN can only help accelerate this momentum and will, of course, provide better visibility to IPCSA members”.

BIC worked closely with DCSA and their members, the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA), container lessors and software providers to ensure smooth transition and adoption of the harmonised facility code list.  Thanks to an agreement with SMDG, the BIC-hosted API includes both BIC Facility Code and SMDG terminal codes.

Richard Morton added: “The NoTN was developed in response to the requirement of consumers and logistics companies for end-to-end information on their shipments. It is a secure port-to-port and cross-border data exchange solution accessed via the trusted, neutral platforms of Port Community Systems.

“Using the BIC’s API within the NoTN enables Port Community Systems to keep up to date with all the new, harmonised location codes. IPCSA strongly supports the global standardisation of location codes and our agreement with BIC provides a simplified access for our members.”

About IPCSA

IPCSA is an international association of Sea and Air Port Community System operators, sea and air port authorities and Single Window operators that is recognised across the globe for providing advice and guidance on the electronic exchange of information across borders and throughout the whole supply chain.

The association has members from across the globe who handle the exchange of information for Business to Business, Government to Business and Government to Government processes and facilitate the smooth cross-border movement of goods.  This equates to the electronic exchange of information relating to more than 500 million TEU movements and 10 billion tonnes of cargo for air, sea and land transport – estimated to be in excess of 50 billion million exchanges every year.

IPCSA focuses on supporting and facilitating systems and innovations for Port Community System members and users, and promoting the use of international data standards in sea and air ports, at border crossings and via Single Window systems around the world. IPCSA is a recognised NGO with consultative status at UNECOSOC and IMO.

The PROTECT Group develops and supports the electronic reporting required by authorities for vessels entering or leaving a port or port area.  It maintains and develops EDI through the PROTECT Guide.  PROTECT is now fully integrated into IPCSA.

Contacts: Richard Morton, Secretary General, IPCSA

Tel: +44 7796334960
email: [email protected]
website: www.ipcsa.international

About BIC:

Founded under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce in 1933 as a neutral, non-profit, international organisation, BIC today has over 2500 members in 130 countries.  Publisher of the BIC Code Register since 1970, BIC has been the industry’s global container prefix registry for over 50 years.  Since 2013 BIC has also operated the Global ACEP Database under the guidance of the IMO.  In 2016, BIC launched the BoxTech Global Container Database (bic-boxtech.org) to help improve efficiency and safety in the supply chain, and to help simplify compliance with SOLAS container weight reporting requirements. BIC holds official observer status as an NGO at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the World Customs Organisation (WCO), and the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) and works closely with the ISO and other standards organisations.

For more information, visit www.bic-code.org

BIC magazine – N°1/2022

February 24, 2022

The original five partners of the Cargo Integrity Group are excited to welcome the Bureau International des Containers (BIC) and the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA), strengthening the group in its efforts to improve safety in the global supply chain.
The Cargo Integrity Group brings together international freight transport and cargo handling
organisations with different roles in the supply chain and a shared dedication to improving safety, security and environmental performance throughout the logistics supply chain.

BIC and FIATA bring valuable complementary perspectives, resources and networks to the group, further deepening its competence and scope. Both organisations have already worked closely with the Cargo Integrity Group and will directly contribute to faster and more effective progress in reducing incidents, accidents, and biosecurity issues in the international supply chain.

“FIATA has long supported the work of the Cargo Integrity Group and has already collaborated with its stakeholders to promote the CTU code through the activities of its Working Group (WG) Sea headed by FIATA Senior Vice-President, Jens Roemer. By joining the group, FIATA reaffirms its commitment to improving the safety and security of sea freight in the best interest of its customers.
FIATA is a key component in reaching out to the end customer and making a difference in the
implementation of the CIG’s work, while bringing strong safety and security expertise through the collaboration of its WG Sea and Advisory Body Safety Security,” comments the FIATA Director General, Dr Stéphane Graber.

“With safety and sustainability at the very core of BIC’s mission, topics like cargo safety, proper declarations and the avoidance of pest contamination are clearly of high interest to us. We’ve been supporting the promotion of the CTU code in communications both with our members and externally since it was first published, and most recently sponsored one of the CTU Quick Guide translations. We’re pleased to take this next step by joining the group, and look forward to working more closely with our partner organizations in helping increase safety in our industry,” says Douglas Owen, Secretary General of Bureau International des Containers (BIC).

Dedicated to improving the safety, security and environmental performance throughout the logistics supply chain, the Cargo Integrity Group will continue its efforts in is chosen focus areas:
• Collaborating with other industry and governmental stakeholders in promoting awareness
and better understanding of safe cargo packing and handling practices such as the CTU Code
• Working to improve regulatory requirements such as the International Maritime Dangerous
Goods (IMDG) Code, and
• Working for strengthened cargo screening processes and more effective container
inspection regimes.

# END #

NOTES FOR EDITORS

About the Cargo Integrity Group
The Cargo Integrity Group brings together international freight transport and cargo handling organisations with different roles in the supply chain and a shared dedication to improving safety, security and environmental performance throughout the logistics supply chain. The Bureau International des Containers, the Container Owners Association, the Global Shippers Forum, the International Cargo Handling Co-ordination Association, FIATA, the TT Club and the World Shipping Council are co-operating on a range of activities to further the adoption and implementation of crucial safety practices and regulations.

About Bureau International des Containers (BIC)
The Bureau International des Containers (BIC) was founded under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce in 1933 as a neutral, non-profit, international organization. BIC seeks to promote efficiency, safety, security, standardization and sustainability in the container supply chain and today has over 2600 container owning and operating members in 125 countries. Publisher of the BIC Code Register since 1970, BIC also operates the BoxTech Global Container Database (bic-boxtech.org), providing API-accessible equipment details to help improve efficiency and safety in the supply chain, the BIC Facility Code Database, providing harmonized codes to identify over 17,000 container facilities in 160 countries, and the Global ACEP Database. BIC holds official observer status at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the World Customs Organization (WCO), and the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT). www.bic-code.org

About FIATA

FIATA International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations is a nongovernmental, membership-based organization representing freight forwarders in some 150 countries. FIATA’s membership is composed of 109 Associations Members and more than 5,500 Individual Members, overall representing an industry of 40,000 freight forwarding and logistics firms worldwide. Based in Geneva, FIATA is ‘the global voice of freight logistics’. www.fiata.org

Cargo Integrity Group Media Contacts

Bureau International des Containers (BIC)
Douglas Owen, Secretary General, [email protected]
Container Owners Association (COA)
Patrick Hicks, Secretary, [email protected]
Global Shippers Forum (GSF)
James Hookham, Secretary General, [email protected]
International Cargo Handling Co-ordination Association (ICHCA International)
Maria Udy, Media contact, Portcare International, [email protected]
FIATA (International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations)
Stéphane Graber, Director General, [email protected]
TT Club
Peter Owen, Media contact, Portcare International, [email protected]
World Shipping Council (WSC)
Anna Larsson, Communications Director, [email protected]

FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE

Container Issue 4, 2021