No flexibility in new VGM SOLAS rules, says British coast guard
THE UK's Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) has stressed that shippers and their agents must weigh not estimate container under the new SOLAS container-weighing rules that come into effect worldwide on July 1.
The MCA pointed out that the five per cent leeway was a guide for enforcers only, adding that there was little room for manoeuvre for most shippers - at least in the UK, reports Lloyd's Loading List.
MCA technical adviser Keith Bradley told a packed seminar room at the Multimodal 2016 event last week that after July 1, the only containers that would have the flexibility to be treated under the old rules allowing shippers to estimate container weights were those already at sea and requiring transshipment.
But for all other containers, there would be no flexibility in the sense that the rules would apply immediately, in terms of the requirement to provide to shipping lines an accurate verified gross mass of containers and their contents, with estimations no longer allowable.
Senior vice president of the World Shipping Council, Lars Kjaer, said there were two main changes to the rules regarding container weighing. Shippers needed to provide a verified gross mass (VGM), adding that an estimated weight is no longer good enough, and that carriers and ports/terminals are jointly responsible for not loading a packed container which does not have a VGM, onto a ship.
Unless those steps are taken, he said: "Loading will not happen. There is no leeway. This is global law, which shipping lines will follow, so no VGM, no load."
Risk management director for freight insurance and risk specialist TT Club Peregrine Storrs-Fox stressed that even meeting the new SOLAS requirements would not be enough to guarantee the underlying aims of the initiative.
"The rules have been designed to improve safety and there is more risk from poorly packed or poorly distributed cargo throughout the container than from mis-declared weight per se," he pointed out.
THE UK's Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) has stressed that shippers and their agents must weigh not estimate container under the new SOLAS container-weighing rules that come into effect worldwide on July 1.
The MCA pointed out that the five per cent leeway was a guide for enforcers only, adding that there was little room for manoeuvre for most shippers - at least in the UK, reports Lloyd's Loading List.
MCA technical adviser Keith Bradley told a packed seminar room at the Multimodal 2016 event last week that after July 1, the only containers that would have the flexibility to be treated under the old rules allowing shippers to estimate container weights were those already at sea and requiring transshipment.
But for all other containers, there would be no flexibility in the sense that the rules would apply immediately, in terms of the requirement to provide to shipping lines an accurate verified gross mass of containers and their contents, with estimations no longer allowable.
Senior vice president of the World Shipping Council, Lars Kjaer, said there were two main changes to the rules regarding container weighing. Shippers needed to provide a verified gross mass (VGM), adding that an estimated weight is no longer good enough, and that carriers and ports/terminals are jointly responsible for not loading a packed container which does not have a VGM, onto a ship.
Unless those steps are taken, he said: "Loading will not happen. There is no leeway. This is global law, which shipping lines will follow, so no VGM, no load."
Risk management director for freight insurance and risk specialist TT Club Peregrine Storrs-Fox stressed that even meeting the new SOLAS requirements would not be enough to guarantee the underlying aims of the initiative.
"The rules have been designed to improve safety and there is more risk from poorly packed or poorly distributed cargo throughout the container than from mis-declared weight per se," he pointed out.