India – Safe shipment of Iron Ore Fines from Indian Ports 4 January 2011 NO.10-021 Introduction As Members may be aware in 2009 two ships, the 'Asian Forest' and the 'Black Rose', capsized and sank following liquefaction of iron ore fines cargoes which they had loaded in the Indian ports of Mangalore and Paradip. There have been other incidents of liquefaction, particularly when loaded during or after the Indian monsoon season, resulting in ships becoming unstable and being forced to seek refuge. In other cases cargoes loaded have been found to have moisture content in excess of the Transportable Moisture Limit (TML) prior to the vessel's departure and the ships in question have been prevented from sailing by the local port authorities until the situation has been rectified leading to substantial delays. The Indian Government through the Ministry of Shipping, Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) conducted inquiries into the sinking of the ships and established a Committee to look into the safe loading and carriage of iron ore lumps and fines from Indian ports. The DGS has issued a number of Merchant Shipping Notices, the latest of which is M Notice No. 9 of 2010, dated 27th August 2010. The Group is in dialogue with the DGS on a number of issues arising from the M Notices and how they relate to the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes Code (the Code). M Notice No. 9 is being made law in India as part of the new Carriage of Goods Regulations. The Indian Government also submitted a report to the 87th session of the IMO Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) in May 2010 reporting on the findings of its investigation into the two casualties and the actions that the Indian authorities had taken following the casualties together with various recommendations relating to the carriage of iron ore fines. The report was considered by the 15th session of the Sub-committee on Dangerous Goods, Solid Cargoes and Containers (DSC) in September 2010. The DSC issued a Circular DSC.1/Ci