The risk of moisture damage to cargo as a result of mold, corrosion, fermentation and spoiling during transport are as old as the transport industry itself. Such damage can affect anything from peanuts, pharmaceutical products or automobiles to earthenware pots or clothing. In many cases, however, the damage is not caused by moisture that has got onto the cargo as a result of weather events (rain, hail) or breaking waves. It is more often the case that fluctuations in temperature during transport can cause condensation to form, which in turn causes metal parts to corrode, for instance. The causes for such loss resulting from the nature of the goods can generally only be identified with appropriate expertise.

The increasing use of containers in marine transport has caused the risk of moisture damage to cargo to rise. Whereas crews were previously able to take proactive ventilation measures to adjust the atmosphere in the cargo hold, this option is not available to them with containers. Consequently, protecting cargoes against moisture damage when they are transported by sea has become an extremely important issue.

This eLearning program is intended to sharpen awareness of the problem and promote knowledge of the issues among all those involved in transport and thus make a contribution to preventing loss due to moisture damage. It offers basic information on the interaction between the goods themselves, the humidity and the temperature in the container and so provides a foundation for loss-free transport.

The eLearning program is available free of charge and will run on modern Web browsers. We recommend that you use the most recent version of Mozilla Firefox.

Go to the eLearning program