Dear Valued Customer,

On 21 November 2014, the IMO's Maritime Safety Committee officially adopted the new Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) requirement that as a condition for vessel loading, the weight of a packed export container be verified by the shipper using either of below two permissible methods. The requirement making container weight verification a condition for vessel loading will become legally binding on 1st July 2016.

 Method 1: Requires weighing the container after it has been packed.

 Method 2: Requires weighing all the cargo and contents of the container and adding those weights to the container’s tare weight as indicated on the door end of the container.

Why change?

There is a huge risk to workforce, vessels, terminals, equipment due to inaccurate container weight being provided for preparing the load list. There is no rule / process currently to ensure that the weight being provided by shipper for loading are accurate leading to huge risks to life. It is an industry requirement from Maritime Safety Committee to be followed by all the stakeholders effective 1st July 2016.

What is the change?

Shippers need to ensure they provide Verified Gross Mass weight of the container or a VGM certificate for every container before the load list cut-off. It would be shipper’s responsibility to ensure they provide the accurate weight and NOT a guesstimate weight of the container. In absence of VGM from shipper (E-channel or a physical certificate), the container will not be loaded on the vessel.

What is in it for you?

 Reduced risk to their cargo / containers on the vessel due to accidents and untoward incidents.

 Clarity of the physical weight of the container amongst the various parties including shipper, consignee, vendors etc.

What will be our support to you?

 Coordinate in arranging the communication about the rule to the shippers globally.

 Make it easy for the shippers to “submit” the verified gross mass weight to the carrier.

 Have various sources for the shippers to submit the verified gross mass information.

 Coordinate with countries / terminals / vendors to extend the facilities of weighing and VGM submission to shippers.

Business Pilot in China

Maritime Safety Administration of P.R. China has launched business pilot in Shenzhen early this year to work on solutions to comply with the SOLAS conventions. You will get more detailed information when there is progress on the business pilot.

For further information, please refer to the SOLAS official guidelines and the Maritime Safety Committee Implementation Guidelines.