Industry must act on mandatory container weighing ruling

The freight industry has 18 months to come up with a practical plan that will see the weight of every container verified before it is loaded aboard ship. This follows last month’s International Maritime Organisation ruling that will require the shipper of a container to verify its gross mass and to ensure that this is stated in the shipping document. And while no-one in the industry disputes the prudence of the move, careful planning and industry collaboration will be critical to avoid supply chain disruption. “The fine detail is not included in the regulation or guidance,” IMO media and communications officer Natasha Brown told FTW. “It states that at the time a packed container is delivered to a port terminal facility, the terminal representative should have been informed by the shipping company whether the shipper has provided the verified gross mass of the packed container and what that gross mass is.” If the weight is not verified, the container can’t be loaded, said Brown. And in terms of sanctions – it is up to national authorities to set the sanctions or fines, she added. “Terminal weighing of all boxes is logical and sensible and it’s something for which I’ve been campaigning on and off for the past ten years,” said Peter Newton of Seaboard International Trading. “All our terminal handling equipment has the facility to weigh – like a car radio it’s no longer an ‘optional extra’. The only option you have is to use it or not and despite my eloquent best I’ve not yet persuaded TPT to do so,” he told FTW. But the point of weight verification will be critical. “The last thing we need is to make it more difficult in terms of the supply chain from an export point of view,” said Maersk Line country managing director Jonathan Horn. “You want to catch potential mis-declarations before the container reaches the terminal – but you also don’t want kilometres of queues waiting outside weighbridges.” SA Shippers’ Council CEO Brenda Horne-Ferreira has added her support to the move. “Overloaded containers are a major safety risk which can damage compliant shippers’ cargo and lead to injury and loss of life. It is also not fair for compliant shippers whose unit shipping costs are higher than the overloaded containers,” she said. “Under-declared container weights also pose a risk on our roads and it is ironic that it will take international legislation to enforce these safety measures in our industry.” The legislation has been a long time coming, says Mervin Webb of Hulamin, giving everyone a chance to make plans to meet these new obligations. “Yes there are questions around the practicalities, but each shipper will find a solution, be it at additional cost or not. “However, the implementation needs to be sound. It’s all too easy to produce a fake weighbridge ticket on a PC and still under-declare the weight.” Clearly the issue will need to be carefully thought through, with industry bodies like the SA Association of Ship Operators and Agents and SASC playing a leading role. And with just 18 months to go before implementation, it’s an issue that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. Transnet Port Terminals told FTW that they were currently looking at how the mandatory weighing could be accommodated “without impacting negatively on productivity and supply chain fluidity in general. “It will be feasible for containers to be weighed in our terminals in terms of the latest generation of cargo handling cranes,” a TPT spokesman told FTW. “However, the onus rests on cargo owners in taking responsibility for adhering to road and traffic regulations as well as standard weighing limitations as per maritime industry regulations.”