Introduction

What are the minimum requirements that need to be met by regulations governing the securing of cargo? This question is of concern to a very wide range of people, who will not be listed here. The answers are multi-faceted and driven by varying expectations.

1. According to the German road traffic regulations StVO §22 (1): The cargo, including any equipment and devices for securing the cargo, must be stowed and secured in such a way that it cannot slide, tip over, roll back and forth, fall from the vehicle or cause avoidable noise even in the event of an emergency braking manoeuvre or sudden avoiding action. Accepted technical rules and regulations must be observed.
2. According to ADR 2013: Packages containing dangerous substances and unpackaged dangerous articles shall be secured by suitable means capable of restraining the goods (such as fastening straps, sliding slat boards, adjustable brackets) in the vehicle or container in a manner that will prevent any movement during carriage which would change the orientation of the packages or cause them to be damaged.
3. The customers of a carrier, and in particular the consignees and the insurers of the consignment, wish to have any cargo secured in a manner that goes beyond the legal requirements of any national road traffic regulations or the ADR to the extent that both mechanical and climatic damage to the cargo are always avoided.

As far as the practical implementation of cargo-securing measures is concerned and when carrying out police inspections, it is necessary to rely on „accepted technical rules and regulations“. In addition to notes on how securing should be performed, these rules also include mathematical test criteria that assess the balance between defined loads and stresses that arise during transportation on the one hand, and the effectiveness of the selected manner of securing the cargo on the other. Such assessments and their results are based on vastly simplified mathematical models, and it must not be assumed that these models offer an entirely accurate or complete reflection of reality either with respect to the loads and stresses experienced or with respect to the effectiveness of the securing. This has already been dealt with comprehensively in the report „Securing cargo in road transport – Who knows the truth?“.

An exact representation of the physical reality using the mathematical models described is hardly feasible; indeed, the huge variety of factors that play a role means that it is not even an appropriate goal. Rather, the objective is to make the model used simple and universally applicable, while at the same time ensuring that the objectives and requirements listed above can be achieved without an excessive amount of effort. The wide range of factors that play a role means that it is only possible to determine whether a mathematical model meets these requirements after a period of several years and careful analysis of accidents. The simple fact that accidents still occur is not, on its own, an indicator of the model’s technical suitability, because accidents are often demonstrably the result of a failure to comply with the model.

The table below shows an overview of the mathematical models that are currently regarded as being necessary.

Up to now, calculations have taken virtually no account of compaction in the form of strapping or bundling individual cargo units or covering bulk cargo. The effectiveness of any combination of tie-down lashing or direct lashing with blocking measures is checked by simply adding together the securing effects. Checks with respect to the longitudinal axis make a distinction between two directions: in the direction of travel and against the direction of travel. This is because it is assumed that the corresponding loads experienced during transportation are different. Tie-down lashings are generally regarded as a number of lashings passed over the cargo transverse to the vehicle and which are attached to both sides of the vehicle, but are pre-tensioned on one side only.

0.8 × m × g ≤ μ × (m × g + ∑F_V)

Simplified mathematical models can be calibrated by means of statistical analysis of a considerable number of large-scale, systematic trials. However, this is an expensive undertaking that has never been put into practice. An alternative approach is to carry out comprehensive physical analysis of the load mechanisms on the basis of a small number of trials. It is possible that there is already a significant amount of material available. In fact, however, the preferred approach in the past appears to have been to assess proposed mathematical models on the basis of „previous practical experience“ and it is unavoidable that economic considerations will also have played a role. Nevertheless, after a number of years have elapsed, it is somehow possible to assess the suitability of a mathematical model retrospectively.