CONTAINER weighing proposals before the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO) are flawed, according to the Asian Shippers Meeting and the European Shippers' Council.
Asian, European shippers want IMO to scrap box-weighing mandate CONTAINER weighing proposals before the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO) are flawed, according to the Asian Shippers Meeting and the European Shippers' Council.
The Asia Shippers Meeting is made up of the Hong Kong Shippers Council, the Indonesian Shippers Council, the Macau Shippers Association and the Thai National Shippers Association with the Korean International Trade Association having observer status.
These shipper groups suggest instead that timely declarations of container weights and an amendment on stowage plans to allow for a solution that "should include proper stowage and lashing of containers" would be better than costly and cumbersome container weigh-ins.
The compromise proposal approved by IMO sub-committee on dangerous goods, solid cargoes and containers, offers shippers two methods to verify the weight of a container - either by weighing the packed container, or by weighing all packages and cargo items and then adding the weight of an empty container, pallets and dunnage.
These proposals have approval from the shipowner group, World Shipping Council, and the IMO-friendly Global Shippers Forum, ahead of the IMO's maritime safety committee. The International Transport Workers Federation supports the proposal for the weighing of all loaded containers.
