News / Ship and crew safety fears increasing as number of mis-declared containers soars

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On 14 July 2012, in the middle of the Atlantic, a container in the cargo hold of the 6,732teu MSC Flaminia exploded (pictured), setting the ship ablaze and taking the lives of three seafarers.

The incident is one of many to blight the container industry over the past decade and, like many of these, the root cause of the casualty will probably never be made public, due to the complexities of international law.

In 2010, following concerns arising from an increase in ...