Galveston maritime injury attorneys note that ships’ masters and cargo loaders have learned the hard way about the tendency of shippers to misdeclare the weights of their shipping containers on shipping manifests. Shippers hope to avoid the extra costs associated with higher weights of shipped goods. And they know that the lack of regulations mandating weighing of containers prior to loading and the lack of funds and manpower for inspecting cargo allows them to get away with their subterfuges. It’s only when accidents result from the misdeclared container weights that the differences might be noticed.
Ships’ masters use declared weights of shipping containers to plan their stowage requirements and loading for onboard stability at sea. If shipping containers weigh more than the declared amounts, higher containers in a stack can magnify any structural integrity problems or weaknesses in containers lower in the stack. Our Galveston maritime injury attorneys caution shippers that this extra weight stress can lead to sudden collapses of entire container stacks and costly injuries or fatalities.
An individual shipping container might weigh many tons and measure 40 feet long. A cargo collapse accident isn’t like a stack of boxes collapsing out of an overloaded closet at home. A collapse of a shipping container stack can easily be deadly. Excess, misdeclared container weights not only overstress the shipping containers, they also apply excessive compression and racking forces on the lashings that secure the shipping containers in place on board a cargo vessel. Heavy weather during transit only adds to the danger.
But sometimes the cargo accident occurs before the container even reaches the ship. For instance, a few months ago our Galveston maritime injury attorneys read about a cargo accident on an Australian wharf from misdeclared container weight. A 28-ton shipping container that had been declared as only 4 tons fell more than 40 feet from a crane and narrowly missed crushing two workers who wisely ran for their lives when they saw the danger. The 28-ton container had exceeded the crane’s weight limit.
Cargo accidents resulting from excess, misdeclared container weights can easily lead to catastrophic injury and death. Expenses from such accidents can be life-long for surviving victims. Families of victims who don’t survive often find themselves without the family’s primary breadwinner. Victims might be eligible for financial compensation for their losses under the Jones Act, the LHWCA, or the Death on the High Seas Act.
If you’ve been injured or lost a loved one to a cargo accident and you need to know what steps you should take to obtain a financial recovery and get your life back on track, contact our Galveston maritime injury attorneys for a free and confidential legal consultation regarding the accident. You can call us toll free at 877-307-9500 or click on the live chat option on our website for help. We could answer your urgent questions about what to do and how to proceed in making your recovery. The consultation is free; the legal advice could be priceless.