Forty-eight hours with a Marine Risk Consultant.

ARC Senior Risk Consultant, Anastasios Leonburg, onsite at Turbo Technik in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. The cargo behind is a gas processing plant that weighs 126 tons. Photo: ARC.

19 March 2018

Allianz Risk Consulting (ARC) supports customers by working with them to manage, control and reduce risks. 

But what does that promise actually mean in practice? 

Global Risk Dialogue joined an operations manager and a risk engineer on an onsite visit to oversee the safe lifting of a 126 ton gas plant.

The survey

Kiran Pillai, Allianz Risk Consulting (ARC) Operations Manager at AGCS, oversees support staff – who assist ARC engineers with administrative tasks. 

In order to better understand what the engineers do on a daily basis, he joined an ARC Marine onsite survey at Turbo Technik, a ship repair company in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

ARC Senior Marine Risk Consultant, Anastasios Leonburg, a former captain with more than 15 years of experience in heavy cargo lifts, was to oversee the transport of a gas processing plant weighing 126 tons from the company’s construction facility to a pier 300 meters away, where it would be loaded onto waiting ships via two 500 ton cranes. 

A loading accident could have created a several million Euro loss.

“Anastasios not only made clear the high value of the precious cargo but also explained to me the complexity of the lifting operation and the various risks he foresaw,” says Pillai. 

“The ship’s width compared to the cargo’s dimensions could, for example, create the danger of tilt during the lift if, the cranes were set up incorrectly.”

The lift

By noon, the lifting contractors had successfully transported the cargo from Turbo Technik’s warehouse to the pier using a self-propelled modular transporter. 

In the late afternoon, Leonburg sat together with the client and discussed the lift.  Daylight ended at 5:45 p.m., so he organized industrial lights to be hooked up.

Finally, the lifting operation started at 8:00 p.m. But it wasn’t straightforward. As soon as the cranes lifted the cargo, it tilted about 10 degrees. 

Based on his heavy-lift experience, Leonburg knew the operational risk was too high.  He had another discussion with the client and the lifting contractor. 

Perhaps the center of gravity was miscalculated or the cranes were set up incorrectly. No matter what reason, the tilt of the cargo increased the risk of a mishap. 

The ship’s cargo hold was too narrow for the cargo to be placed safely in darkness & the lifting crew was physically exhausted from working nonstop for over 12 hours. 

Leonburg suggested that the work continue the next day.

Anastasios Leonburg, left, with Kiran Pillai, right, ARC Operations Manager onsite. Photo: ARC.

Next morning, the lifting contractors realized that they had attached the lifting cables incorrectly, thus causing the tilt.

The lift was done without any tilt after fixing the issue, so the cargo could be placed onto the ship. 

However, a new issue arose.

While lowering the cargo, the straps started to rub against the cargo hold on one side, increasing the risk of breakage, as well as cargo and ship damage, endangering crew safety. 

Leonburg knew that the cargo could not be placed into the hold without the rubbing. 

He requested that the cargo be lifted, asked the ship’s captain to tilt the ship towards the side where the straps were rubbing & then requested the contractors to attach fiber pads to reduce friction.

Eventually the cargo was successfully placed onto the ship’s hull.

The aftermath

“I went to bed very tired that night & with a lot of thoughts in my head,” said Pillai. “It was obvious that – there was an accident risk if, the operation was not abandoned & resumed the next day. 

ARC expertise & experience ensured the safe transport of an important cargo for our client & prevented a several million Euro claim”.

Find out more about Marine Risk Consulting expertise here. – [Pl. see below].

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Risk – Consulting

Marine Risk Consulting.

Marine risk consulting services for worldwide exposures.

Within the Marine sector we offer risk management consulting and loss prevention reviews for hull, cargo and inland marine risks, covering exposures as varied as pleasure craft, yachts, ports, terminals and every imaginable vessel.

Our global team of marine risk consultants are based in worldwide locations such as London, New York, San Francisco, Hamburg and Paris. In order to best serve our clients, we work closely with our global and local claims teams as well as our underwriting teams.

Our marine risk consultants have expertise in all facets of marine, often drawing on years of work experience as master mariners and in the transport, engineering and logistics sectors.

AGCS Marine risk consulting services include:

• Marine risk management surveys including surveys of cargo storage (pre-storage, intermediate storage and long-term)

• Surveying comprehensive transport routes, packaging, logistics and cargo security

• Risk assessments of construction sites and facilities

• Risk assessments of building locations, including natural catastrophe exposures

Our clients include large transport companies, port terminals, port and harbor authorities, charterers, ship repairers, marinas, boat and yacht operators, container freight station operators, container depot operators and any other businesses which deals with marine risks.

Risk consulting for marine goods-in-transit

Our risk consulting solutions for goods-in-transit include transport and tie-down of heavy goods, such as transformers with individual weights of up to 500 tons, specific guidelines and recommendations about project cargo and other hands-on expertise.

Since transporting goods depends heavily on adequate packaging, we also offer clients advice on comprehensive packing, package security and corrosion prevention.