New proposal to weigh every export container

Mandatory weighing of all containers at port of departure before they are stowed aboard a vessel for export is the latest proposal from the World Shipping Council to address the perennial problem of overweight containers. The Council, which represents the world’s leading container shipping lines, is keen to reach agreement on the issue at the International Maritime Organisation’s 89th meeting in May so that a proposal can be introduced to amend the SOLAS convention and make weighing of containers a legal requirement. But while the WSC believes the weighing of every full export container before vessel loading is feasible and practical, Transnet Port Terminals’ GM strategy, Paulo Froes, believes that it will demand significant financial investment from the ports, with no benefit, and could in addition impact on productivity. While there is no available data that reliably indicates how many containers are overweight, the problem is significant, according to the WSC. “Some carriers report that it is not uncommon for actual total cargo weight aboard ship to be 3-7% higher than the declared weight,” a spokesman said. Which is why the association has proposed that the SOLAS Convention be amended. “The United States by regulation requires the weighing of every export loaded container before vessel loading,” a WSC spokesman said. “And no problems have been reported with respect to the ability of marine terminals to comply with this requirement.” In South Africa a task team appointed by the Department of Transport has been looking into the issue, says Froes, but with broader responsibility than the sea leg. “Because around 75% of containers are carried from Gauteng to the ports by road, the DoT is keen to prevent road damage from overweight containers and has been working on a system to weigh containers before and after loading on the truck. “But it’s almost impossible to do,” says Froes. “The port authorities are not privy when the container is loaded on the truck, and when it comes off the truck at the terminal, if you run advanced terminals as we do, it’s taken straight off the truck into the stack. It doesn’t go anywhere near a weighbridge which means the equipment would need to be modified so that there’s a weighing mechanism in the spreader that picks up the container.” This would clearly involve significant financial investment by the port authorities with no benefit. For rail cargo it’s a different story entirely. “We automatically weigh all containers moving by rail at the inland terminal in Gauteng before they are loaded on the train – we have the facilities and there’s no additional cost. “We’re also working very hard to drive up productivity,” says Froes, “and if we have to build in an extra step it would have an impact. The only way would be to build the functionality into our container lifting equipment, including our cranes and RTGs. And while the manufacturers already have the technology, it would be a very costly affair,” he said. The issue of overweight containers has plagued shipping lines for some time. Mediterranean Shipping Company, along with several other lines, has for some time imposed a penalty for overweight boxes. And while things have improved marginally over past three years since the penalties have been applied, according to MSC’s Mike Vanhear, the Johannesburg office continues to pick up three to four misdeclared weights every week. And this is anything from one to four tons. Thankfully there appear to be few repeat offenders, according to Vanhear. “MSC will continue to apply the penalty. Clearly money talks – how else can you get their attention?” “The nub of the problem for carriers,” says GM sales and marketing at MOL South Africa, Iain McIntosh, “is the fact that the most wellintentioned carriers will always be undermined in application by someone more unscrupulous. As a result I don’t believe any of us really are penalising shippers when the chips are down because of the commercial impact. “If however it goes legal then this removes all that nonsense.” From a carrier’s point of view, he says, there are two key issues – safety and robbery of the vessel’s earning capacity. It’s a major problem that won’t be going away any time soon.