ANNEX
Report of the working group on evaluating the risk involved in the transport of Calcium Hypochlorite products by ships
1 Introduction
Recently, shipments of Calcium Hypochlorite products have been postponed by Japanese industry, as well as the rest of the world, because of fire outbreaks on some container ships during the past two years, which have raised concerns about the safe transport of Calcium Hypochlorite. Therefore Japanese industry has been in difficulty as major shipping companies have been in the position of having to refuse such shipments. Meanwhile, such products are mainly used to disinfect cities' water supplies and swimming pools worldwide. For those countries importing such products, prolonged interruption of the shipments will become a serious problem for humanity.
In light of these circumstances, NKKK established a working group* to evaluate the risk involved in the transport of Calcium Hypochlorite products. This group has considered the risk involved in the transport by ships of Calcium Hypochlorite products made in Japan in accordance with the IMDG Code stowage requirements. This document is the summary of the report prepared by the working group.
2 Calcium Hypochlorite products made in Japan for consideration
Presently the products, which are made by three Japanese manufacturers, are assigned to UN 2280, UN 1748 or UN 1479.
In the 1970s several accidents occurred which involved these products and subsequently, the transport requirements of the IMDG Code were reviewed by IMO. Thereafter, safe transport of these products was achieved by the efforts of manufacturers and related bodies, and there have been no occurrences of accidents caused by Japanese products for more than a quarter of a century. The working group carried out the test regarding the thermal stability to evaluate the risk of 10 types of packages selected from Japanese export products as shown in Table I (Details of the dangerous goods concerned).
3 Testing
3.1 Purpose of testing
The working group carried out the heat accumulation storage tests to evaluate the thermal stability of each type of Calcium Hypochlorite packages, while taking the provisions of the IMDG Code into consideration. Because the stowage requirement of UN 2880 is "Away from sources of heat where temperatures in excess of 55 degrees centigrade for a period of 24 hours or more will be encountered", the working group carried out the heat accumulation tests by exposing the packages' surfaces to a temperature of 55 degrees centigrade for a period of 24 hours.
* The working group was established by Nippon Kaiji Kentei Kyokai (NKKK) and chaired by Prof. Yoichi Uehara,
Emeritus Professor at Yokohama National University
