Shipping Standards

Different manufacturers adheres to some form of shipping standards. Let's use Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) as an example. CHA guidelines helps move merchandise through the hobby industry supply chain including retail stores and distribution centers. In order to move products through the supply chain they must be able to identify the products and then match the physical product and shipment to the related transaction information which means that they must have a standard method to identify products and shipments including the bar codes and labels. [source: wikipedia].

Postal services also have their own shipping standards. They have specific delivery times for specific parcels. They would normally lists the expected delivery times and depending on parcel destination and the type of service you have paid for. For example, for a regular parcel within metropolitan areas of capital cities, or within the same city or town the parcel will be delivered the next day however if the destination is between a metropolitan area of a capital city and country locations it will take 1 to 3 days.

WWF has worked within the International Maritime Organization for many years on a number of issues involving shipping practices and standards. For example elimination of single-hull oil tankers. In a 2003 WWF was influential in the decision by the IMO to accelerate the phase out of single-hull oil tankers, which are more likely to rupture than double-hull vessels. All single-hull tankers will now be phased out worldwide by 2010, five years earlier than previously decided, while the largest single-hull oil tankers were eliminated by 2005.[source: wwf.panda.org].

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is developing new standards for the shipping industry that will help to prevent shipwrecks and to make maritime pollution clean-up operations more effective. Among related standards being developed by ISO are ones to improve emergency response to maritime pollution. These include standardized terminology, which provides a basis for effective coordination when different agencies - and different countries - need to work together, and standards for specialized equipment such as oil spill booms and skimmers. These standards give guidance to both industry and users for producing, purchasing and using such equipment and also establish the basis for compatibility of equipment - an important consideration for the speed and effectiveness of emergency response. [source: www.iso.org].

National Marine Safety Committee adheres to the Uniform Shipping Laws Code (USL Code). The USL Code provides standards for the design, construction and operation of domestic commercial vessels. The Code was first published in 1979 in response to the need for a common national safety standard for commercial vessels. [source: nmsc.gov.au].