South Africa is leading the way in the region when it comes to implementing the new amended Safety of Life at Sea (Solas) regulations that require mandatory verified gross mass for all shipped containers, according to the SA Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa).
Samsa chief operating officer Sobantu Tilayi said the country had a good system in place and had been well organised ahead of the official implementation date in July 2016.
“Samsa adhered to the IMO request for a pragmatic and practical approach during the first six months that the amendment was in force. South Africa was recognised by the IMO as a leader in the southern hemisphere on the subject. Iceland requested our methodology and used it without change,” Tilayi said.
“Assistance has been given to our neighbouring countries Namibia and Mozambique to assist with their compliance,” he said.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) amended the Solas Convention to require, as a condition for loading a packed container onto a ship for export, that the container weight be verified.
Shippers are responsible for the verification of the weight of packed containers and estimated weights are not permitted.
The aim of the regulation was to clamp down on the shipping of containers with under-declared weight, which were endangering safety at sea.
Tilayi said the local industry had initially presented some resistance to the change.
“A great deal of effort was put into consultation through roadshows and workshops which eventually led to a change of heart,” Tilayi said.
He said Samsa had begun conducting audits of companies accredited to authorise shippers using Method 2.
“During this audit shippers were sampled to ascertain compliance. No significant problems have been identified,” Tilayi said.
It was possible that more companies were now offering weighbridge services but since Method 1 did not have to be approved by Samsa or be registered with anyone this could not be substantiated, he added.
However, the enforcement of regulations remained a challenge because discovering non-compliance was problematic.
“Samsa relies on being notified of non-compliant containers since no weighing is conducted in any of the container terminals. To date Samsa have not been notified of any non-conforming containers. We are in discussions with TPT (Transnet Port Terminals) on how to resolve this issue,” Tilayi said.
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South Africa was recognised by the IMO as a leader in the southern hemisphere. – Sobantu Tiayi
