Charleston next to soften on box weight SOLAS VGM enforcement facilitation
THE South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) has quietly withdrawn its US$25 per export box weigh-in charge in the face of various reactions to the fast approaching United Nations rule that containers be loaded aboard ship only if accompanied by a "verified gross mass" (VGM) figure.
South Carolina's Port of Charleston has withdrawn its $25 charge for direct provision of weights to shippers," the SCPA said towards the end of a monthly cargo volume press release.
"This has been a long-accepted best practice in our port that has allowed the safe loading of vessels, and it should be continued in the overall interest of safety and efficiency," said SCPA president and CEO Jim Newsome.
Hardline attitudes by other ports, some insisting that no box could get by the gate without a VGM have mellowed as shippers indicate they will do business with "more friendly" ports.
Also, the US Coast Guard has relinquished its usual role of enforcer of UN decrees, by expressing a hands-off attitude in which it said American laws and regulations were adequate for the safe loading of cargo.
The SCPA said it was "finalising a solution to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regulations whereby it will provide the long-utilised terminal scale weights from certified scales as verified gross mass (VGM) directly to shipping lines as contemplated in the US Coast Guard Declaration of Equivalency issued on April 29".
The Port of Virginia, like other east coast rival ports, has dropped its hardline and has scrapped its original policy to reject any box without a VGM just as state port authorities in Georgia and the Ports America terminal in Baltimore have done.
China's Ministry of Transport said it will only conduct random inspections on export containers at the country's ports from July 1.
Official guidelines say vessels and terminals could not load a container for which a verified gross mass or VGM had not been received.
"All marine management agencies should perform random checks on the verified gross mass of plant containers loaded onto vessels."
According to Ministry guidelines any discrepancy between the declared weight and the VGM obtained by the maritime agency's vessels carriers or terminal operators must be within plus or minus of five per cent or one ton.
Should the variance be outside that, the agency should request that the vessel carrying the box correct the weight information "after the potential risk to safety has been minimised".
This presumably means the container contents must be reduced and the box re-weighed by the terminal and loaded back on the ship if there appears to be a risk to safety.
THE South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) has quietly withdrawn its US$25 per export box weigh-in charge in the face of various reactions to the fast approaching United Nations rule that containers be loaded aboard ship only if accompanied by a "verified gross mass" (VGM) figure.
South Carolina's Port of Charleston has withdrawn its $25 charge for direct provision of weights to shippers," the SCPA said towards the end of a monthly cargo volume press release.
"This has been a long-accepted best practice in our port that has allowed the safe loading of vessels, and it should be continued in the overall interest of safety and efficiency," said SCPA president and CEO Jim Newsome.
Hardline attitudes by other ports, some insisting that no box could get by the gate without a VGM have mellowed as shippers indicate they will do business with "more friendly" ports.
Also, the US Coast Guard has relinquished its usual role of enforcer of UN decrees, by expressing a hands-off attitude in which it said American laws and regulations were adequate for the safe loading of cargo.
The SCPA said it was "finalising a solution to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regulations whereby it will provide the long-utilised terminal scale weights from certified scales as verified gross mass (VGM) directly to shipping lines as contemplated in the US Coast Guard Declaration of Equivalency issued on April 29".
The Port of Virginia, like other east coast rival ports, has dropped its hardline and has scrapped its original policy to reject any box without a VGM just as state port authorities in Georgia and the Ports America terminal in Baltimore have done.
China's Ministry of Transport said it will only conduct random inspections on export containers at the country's ports from July 1.
Official guidelines say vessels and terminals could not load a container for which a verified gross mass or VGM had not been received.
"All marine management agencies should perform random checks on the verified gross mass of plant containers loaded onto vessels."
According to Ministry guidelines any discrepancy between the declared weight and the VGM obtained by the maritime agency's vessels carriers or terminal operators must be within plus or minus of five per cent or one ton.
Should the variance be outside that, the agency should request that the vessel carrying the box correct the weight information "after the potential risk to safety has been minimised".
This presumably means the container contents must be reduced and the box re-weighed by the terminal and loaded back on the ship if there appears to be a risk to safety.