运往中国的货物苯酚与和MEG（乙二醇）的不合格案例分析

日本保赔协会提请您注意运往中国的货物苯酚和MEG（乙二醇）的不合格案例，并介绍预防措施。

在从东南亚（即泰国）或东亚（即韩国，日本）到中国相对短途的往返航次中，曾发生过多起因货物的颜色和/或紫外线透射率不合格在卸货之前被发现而暂停了卸货操作的事件。

如您所知，苯酚和MEG是非常敏感的化学物品。这些装船的技术指标可能会因船舱的微小变化而有所不同。具体而言，不合规格要求的主要原因是化学物品在空气中暴露时间过长。

我们将自去年12月以来发生的四起案件汇总如下，以供您参考：

A船（货物：苯酚）：从泰国到中国的航次中

有人声称苯酚的颜色不合规格。据报道，A船只没有配备N2发电机或N2气瓶。另外，由于装港码头没有向船舶A供应N2，因此未能在货舱中对N2进行覆盖*。

B船（货物：苯酚）：在从新加坡到中国的航次中

在对卸货港的货泵循环系统抽样测试时，即使B船的货舱由装货港码头进行N2覆盖，并且在海上运输过程中妥善控制货物温度，仍发现有颜色不符合规格的苯酚

C船（货物：MEG）：从韩国前往中国的航次中

发现MEG的UV紫外线透射率不合格。C船在海上航行期间未实施N2覆盖。此外，租船人和托运人也没有明确的指导。尽管在中国的第一卸货港没有任何问题地进行了卸货操作，但一周后在第二卸货港采集的货物样品不合格。 

 D船（货物：MEG）：在从印度尼西亚到中国的航次中

发现MEG的紫外线透射率不符合规格要求。D船在海上运输时未进行N2覆盖。此外，租船人和托运人也没有明确的指导。

＊N2覆盖是在装载货物后用氮气吹扫货舱，以降低氧气含量而预防货损。也称为N2填充。

从上述案例中可以看出，如果苯酚和MEG长时间（即超过1周）暴露在空气中，则很容易由于氧化而变质。装货后，如果一个货舱未满载货物，则该货舱有有限的气体空间。如果这种情况持续了超过一个星期，而没有向舱中注入任何氮气，则货物可能会逐渐变质。

为防止货物变质，应在航行期间的适当时机将N2注入船舶货舱，这样货舱中的氧气含量应该会降低。

·   苯酚-变色

苯酚变色的主要原因是与空气中氧气的氧化反应，或被比如前载货物等杂质污染。酚类化合物对氧化反应很敏感并且该特性被应用于作抗氧化剂。

·   MEG-降低紫外线透射率

当MEG与空气接触并且溶解的氧气量增加时，会发生氧化反应，过氧化物会生成羰基化合物，例如乙醇醛、乙醇酸和乙二醛。随着降解产物用量的增加，在200-220nm左右波长的吸光度有显著增加，紫外线透射率会降低。

根据日本保赔协会最近的经验，似乎当有些船东收到托运人或承租人运输苯酚或MEG的航次指示时，船东在航行过程中并未收到来自托运人或承租人的关于照管货物的详细说明，他们只是遵守航次指示，而没有托运人或租船人对货物的任何详细信息。一些租船合同的签订没有关于这些敏感货物的照管的任何相关条款。

在中国，船东很难以运输货物存在“固有缺陷”为由，完全拒绝这类化学品货物不合格产生的索赔。如果货物索赔人主张不合格并且暂停卸货操作，大多数情况下，货物索赔人要求我们的会员提供P＆I Club LOU或中国保险公司的LOU，以恢复卸货。在这种情况下，我们的会员可能会遭受巨大的时间损失、货物损坏和岸罐费用。结果可能会导致会员下一个业务的延迟。在我们以前的处理案例中，我们的会员不得不改变下一个航次，尽管这是已签订的航次，以便在另一个国家找到其他买家，因为在中国找不到买家。在一些案件中，货品不合格在中国引发诉讼程序，并且将花费大量的时间和成本来应对索赔。即使我们的会员成功击败了索赔人或成功地从租船人和托运人处弥补了损失，我们的成员为此付出的费用，比如通代费、检验费、律师费和其他费用可能无法追回。

重要的一点是，我们的会员应在收到运输苯酚和MEG的航次指令后，与托运人或承租商谈如何在船方照管期间妥善处理这些敏感货物。不用说，如果船上没有任何N2发生器，我们的成员可能需要考虑拒绝运输此货物，以避免造成会员的损失。

敬请会员谨慎处理这些货物，并采取包括以下措施在内的防损措施：

1. 装载前应先采集岸上油舱样品，并尽可能妥善保存。

2. 在装货港，在装货前清理船舱并获得清洁证书（干燥证书）。

3. 在装港从船舱中取样并妥善保存，并确保装载后可将码头的N2泵入船舱中。

4. 在航行期间，如果船上装有N2，则应利用船上发电机向船舱内进行N2覆盖。

5. 在装货之前，检查目标压力下是否有泄漏，船舶每个货舱P/V阀的维护工作是否完成。

6. 对于苯酚货物，必需保持适当温度，并根据托运人或承租人的指示将记录保留在船上。

7. 在卸货港对船舱取样并妥善保管。 

如果您对苯酚和MEG的运输有任何疑问，请随时与我们联系。

顺祝航安。

China—off-spec cases for Phenol and MEG（Mono Ethylene Glycol）

We would like to draw your attention to the frequent cases of off-specification of Phenol and MEG (Mono Ethylene Glycol) in China and introduce the preventive measures.

There are many cases occurred in relatively short round voyages from South East Asia (i.e. Thailand) or Eastern Asia (i.e. Korea, Japan) to China where discharge operations were suspended due to the off-specification of those cargoes in color and/or UV transmittance were found before discharging.

As you are aware, Phenol and MEG are very sensitive chemical goods. Specifications of those shipments may be varied by tiny changes in the ship's tanks. Specifically speaking, the main cause of this off-specification claims are being exposed to the air during a long period.

For your reference, we report four cases occurred since the last December as follows;

Vessel A (Cargo: Phenol): During the voyage from Thailand to China

The off-specification of Phenol in color was claimed. Reportedly, Vessel A did not equip N2 generators nor N2 cylinders. Besides, N2 Blanketing* in cargo tanks was not performed, because the terminal at loading port did not supply N2 to Vessel A.

Vessel B (Cargo: Phenol): During the voyage from Singapore to China

The off-specification of Phenol in color was found at the time of the sampling test by means of the cargo pump circulation at the discharging port even though N2 Blanketing in cargo tanks of Vessel B was carried out by the terminal at the loading port, and cargo temperature control was performed properly during sea-carriage.

Vessel C (Cargo: MEG): During the voyage from Korea to China

The off-specification of UV Transmittance for MEG was found. Vessel C did not perform N2 Blanketing during the sea-carriage. Further, there’s no specific instruction from Charterers nor Shippers. While discharging operation was carried out without any troubles at 1st discharging port in China, cargo samples taken at 2nd discharging port one week later were off-spec.

Vessel D (Cargo: MEG): During the voyage from Indonesia to China

The off specification claim of UV Transmittance for MEG was found. Vessel D did not perform N2 Blanketing during sea-carriage. Furthermore, there’s no specific instruction from Charterers nor Shippers.

＊N2 Blanketing is to purge in cargo tanks with Nitrogen after cargo loading, in order to prevent cargo damage with down oxygen level. It is also called N2 padding.

As you can see from the cases, if Phenol and MEG are exposed to the air during a long time (i.e., more than 1 week), they would be easily deteriorated due to the cargo’s oxidation. After loading, in case that a tank is not fully loaded of the cargoes, the tank has a limited air space. When this situation continues more than one week without any N2 injection into the tank, the cargoes may deteriorate gradually.

In order to prevent the cargo deterioration, N2 should be injected into the ship's cargo tank at appropriate timing during the voyage and oxygen level of the air in the tank should be reduced.

•   Phenol – discoloration

The main cause of the discoloration of phenol is the oxidation reaction by oxygen in the air or the contamination with foreign substances such as last cargo. Phenol compounds are infective to oxidation reactions and this character is applied to antioxidants.

•   MEG - deterioration of UV Transmittance

When MEG comes into contact with air and the amount of dissolved oxygen increases, the oxidation reaction proceeds, and peroxides generate carbonyl compounds such as glycolic aldehyde, glycolic acid and glyoxal. In case of the amount of such degradation products increases, the absorbance around 200-220 nm mainly increases remarkably, then the numerical value of the UV transmittance shows a decrease.

According to our recent experiences, it seems that when some ship owners receive the voyage instructions of carrying the Phenol or MEG from the shippers or the charterers, they are not given full explanations for the care of the cargoes during the voyage by the shippers and/or the charterers and they just comply with the voyage instructions without any detailed information about the cargo from the shippers or the charterers. Some charter parties were concluded without any relevant clauses about the care of these sensitive cargoes.

In China, it would be difficult for the vessel owners to totally reject the alleged claims for off-specification of this sort of chemical goods with the defense of “inherent vice” of the shipments. If the cargo claimants allege the off-specification and discharging operation is suspended, in most cases, the cargo claimants request our members to provide P&I Club LOU or Chinese Insurance Company's LOU for the resuming of the discharging. In that case, our members may suffer from huge time loss, the damage to the cargoes and shore tank charges. As a result, it may lead to delay their next business. In our previous handling case, our members had to change the next voyage, although fixed, to find other buyers in another country because no buyers could be found in China. In some cases, the off-specification claim shall lead to the court proceeding in China and it shall take much time and costs to conclude the claim. Even if our members succeed in defeating the claim or succeed in the recovery of their loss from the charterer and shipper, our member's costs incurred to do this, i.e., fees for correspondents, surveyors, lawyers and other costs may be unrecoverable.

As an important point, our members should discuss how they should deal with these sensitive cargoes during our member's custody with the shippers or charterers properly when they receive the voyage instruction of carrying Phenol and MEG. Needless to say, if the ship does not have any N2 generators on board, our members may consider to reject the carriage of cargoes for avoiding our member's loss.

Members are kindly recommended to be prudent in taking care of these cargoes including following means;

1. To take shore tank samples before loading and keep it properly if possible.

2. At loading ports, to clean-up ship's tank and obtain cleanliness certificate (dry certificate) before loading.

3. To take samples from the ship's tank at the loading port and keep it properly and To make sure that N2 from the terminal can be pumped in the ship's tank after loading.

4. During the voyage, to make N2 Blanketing to the ship's tank from the ship's generator if the ship is equipped with it

5. To be checked that there is no leakage at target pressure and the ship maintains P/V valves for each tanks prior cargo loading.

6. To the cargo of phenol, it is necessary to maintain a proper temperature and keep its record on board per shipper or charterer's instruction;

7. To take samples from the ship's tank at discharging port and keep it properly.

If you have any questions about the carriage of Phenol & MEG, please feel free to contact us.

We wish you all safe and pleasant voyages.

来源：日本保赔协会@2020.08.13 @ https://www.piclub.or.jp/en/news/31787