Poor cargo stowage: material damage on container
- Safety Flash
- Published on 21 January 2014
- Generated on 24 February 2026
- IMCA SF 01/14
- 1 minute read
A Member has reported an incident in which a freight container was delivered offshore with damaged internal contents, owing to poor stowage.
What happened?
When the doors of the container were opened, there was a strong smell of paint. It was discovered that heavy pipes had been loaded into the container but had not been stowed properly or lashed down. The pipes had moved during transit and had crushed part of the other cargo, including a number of cans of paint and some welding consumables.
Inside of freight container and damaged cargo
Our Member noted the following:
This is a good example of the need for proper stowage and lashing. Cargo in a freight container that is not lashed down properly can easily shift during transit and damage itself or other cargo. In this example it is cans of paint, but it could easily cause a much more serious hazard of dropped or falling objects when the doors are opened, as well as a potential spill to the environment.
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