§ Mr. Donald Stewartasked the Secretary of State for Trade what safeguards have been introduced regarding the carrying of dangerous chemicals or gases following the accident on the "Asia-freighter".
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Trade whether his inspector has 473W completed his inquiries into the leakage of toxic gas on the "Asiafreighter"; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Clinton DavisYes. My inspector's report shows that although the two cylinders of arsine gas bore poison labels and were properly notified as dangerous cargo to the forwarding company in the USA, that company and its agents allowed the cylinders to be loaded into an unmarked container and gave no notice to the Master of the "Asia-freighter" of the presence of this dangerous cargo, which was then stowed in an inaccessible position below deck. Investigations undertaken by the United States authorities confirm these findings.
When the container was opened in the presence of my inspector, the two cylinders were found to be lying loose and the walls of the container were seen to have suffered damage consistent with buffeting by the cylinders. The evidence suggests that the cylinders were originally laid on a wooden pallet, between baulks of wood, without being secured in any other way. One cylinder was full, the other empty. The valves on both were open, but in one case the gas had been contained by the valve screwed dust cap. The National Engineering Laboratory's tests on the cylinders showed that, whilst the valves themselves were undamaged, they would open spontaneously under repeated shocks. I am satisfied that this is what occurred on the "Asiafreighter". The results of these tests are being made widely known.
Generally speaking, the record of the container shipment method is good and I believe that in this country it is generally well controlled, as, indeed, it is in the United States. Nevertheless, I am exam- 474W ining the procedures in this country in the light of this report to see whether new legislation is justified. The regulation of container traffic is ultimately an international matter, however, and my Department is therefore pursuing urgently the lessons learned in this case through the Inter-Government Maritime Consultative Organisation.
Largely on the initiative of the United Kingdom the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code has been reinforced by the inclusion of a new section dealing with the carriage of dangerous goods in freight containers. The United Kingdom will implement the recommendations forthwith and an amendment to the Department's Blue Book will be produced as a matter of urgency.
I am sure the House would wish me to reiterate on its behalf the sympathy it expressed with those members of the crew who were affected by this gas; the House will be glad to know that three of them are now understood to be at work again, and that the fourth, who is still under medical care, is reported to be making good progress. It is greatly to be hoped that they suffer no lasting ill-effects.