Hazardous Cargo Procedure

Hazardous Cargo refers to cargo of any kind classified by the International Maritime Organisation as hazardous cargo and shall include “dangerous goods” as defined in the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code.

The import, export, transit and or transshipment of all such cargo are subject to restrictions and guidelines defined by IMO/IMDG code, ISPS regulations, terminal HSSE procedures including the Transshipment, Transit and Import rules for IMDG Containers acceptance found below and, in our tariff, and terms. Cargo owners and their agents as well as shipping line operators are required to always be in full compliance and adherence with these standard procedures.

Transshipment and import / export activities for IMO class 1 and class 6 are authorized under restrictions.

The cargo owner, consignee, importer, exporter, forwarders and their agents must submit a request for authorization to APM Terminals for transshipment and import/export of any IMO/IMDG cargo (containerized or bulk/break bulk) with IMO class 1 (excluding class 1.4) and class 6 prior to loading from departure port.

Note also that all import cargo with IMO class 1 (excluding class 1.4) and class 6 must be exited from the terminal/port upon discharge within 24 hours.

Export cargo are also subject to this rule and must be gated into the terminal and loaded on intended vessel within 24 hours.

Please note and be guided that absolutely NO IMDG class 1 (excluding 1.4) and class 6.1 will be unstuff and stored in our CFS (Consolidated Freight Station) warehouse as they are required to be evacuated from the terminal within 24 hours maximum. Therefore, containers containing mentioned IMDG/IMO cargoes will only be unstuffed in the terminal if the owner/consignee has completed all clearing processes and  is present with vehicle on standby to receive and take said cargo out immediately upon completion of the unstuffing process.

It has come to our attention that some dangerous cargo have a sub classification for international shipping based on the UN Number. This secondary IMO Class however is often not manifested by the shipper, and this causes disputes with customers/consignees which can negatively impact their experience when working with us to take delivery of their cargo. We, however, have clear visibility on this because our terminal operating system (TOS) is able to flag this and as such we are required to enforce the highest safety controls. This means that we will evaluate all IMDG cargo based on the system and not just limited to the cargo manifest. Please see below sample of how our TOS flags all hazards and risks associated with dangerous goods / IMDG cargo:

Our IMDG cargo acceptance rules are shared below. These rules are for the safety of all port users and cargo. Kindly note that failure to follow these rules, the below penalty charges will apply.