Australian Study Sparks Global Push for Pest-Resistant Shipping Containers

January 02, 2025 — A groundbreaking Australian study is driving a global effort to redesign shipping containers and combat the $423 billion annual threat posed by invasive pests. Experts from the international shipping industry and biosecurity specialists convened in Rotterdam on November 11, 2024, at The International Symposium on Optimising Container Design to Mitigate Risks of Pest Contamination to address this critical issue, World Shipping Council reported.

The symposium, organized by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Secretariat in partnership with the Bureau International des Containers (BIC), the Container Owners Association (COA), and the World Shipping Council (WSC), brought together major carriers, leasing companies, container manufacturers, and plant health stakeholders.

A key focus of the meeting was an Australian government study that compared standard shipping containers with modified designs. The results were striking: while 8% of standard containers showed signs of pest contamination, this figure plummeted to just 1.45% in the modified units. This significant reduction underscores the potential of targeted design changes to mitigate the risk of pest infestations.

“Container design has historically focused on production efficiency and durability, but in a global supply chain we must also prioritize pest resistance,” said Mike Downes, senior technical expert at BIC and Chair of the Container Cleanliness Industry Advisory Group supporting the IPPC’s Sea Container Focus Group (SCFG). “By rethinking container design, we can mitigate the risks of invasive species and safeguard biodiversity, forests, and global food supplies.”

Rama Karri, Director at the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, highlighted the primary areas of contamination: “Data from interceptions collected by several countries indicate that approximately 90 per cent of pest contamination found on the external surfaces of sea containers is linked to the understructures, while contamination on internal surfaces is primarily associated with the floorboards.”

The symposium explored practical modifications to address these vulnerabilities, including:

• Floor designs: Eliminating gaps, cracks, and nail holes to prevent pest harborage.
• Understructures: Reducing horizontal ledge configurations to minimize pest nesting sites.
• Coatings: Eliminating bitumastic under-coatings, which can provide shelter for pests.

These design changes aim to create less hospitable environments for invasive species without compromising the functionality or cost-effectiveness of the containers.

Following the symposium, a working group comprising representatives from major container owners, operators, and manufacturers was established to advance these promising ideas. The group will develop proposals for container design modifications to be presented to the IPPC’s SCFG and ultimately to the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM).

This is a critical societal issue, and collaborative efforts like this symposium are helping broaden our industry’s recognition of the problem and strengthen its commitment to accelerate efforts to create a pest-resistant supply chain,” said Lars Kjaer, Senior Vice President of the World Shipping Council. The Australian study has provided crucial evidence that redesigning shipping containers can significantly reduce the spread of invasive pests, paving the way for a more biosecure global trade system.

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