Marine body, the London P&I Club, is warning its members that some charterers are trying to persuade masters of bulk carriers loading large steel slabs in China to use the controversial California Block Stowage configuration.
The club says this configuration is unsafe. It notes that many ports in China do not have the banding machines which are used as one of the central elements of a basic CBS operation to secure the top three tiers of steel slabs in the vessel's hold.
It claims there is great potential for the slabs to shift when CBS is used.
