Sama urges third parties to get their certification ducks in a row

The South African

Maritime Safety Authority

(Samsa) has appointed its

first third party company

– General & Marine

Surveyors and Assessors

– to act on its behalf to

approve shippers using

Method 2 to verify the

gross mass of a packed

container to comply with

new container weighing

regulations.

The Authority has urged

other interested parties to

get their ducks in a row to

complete their applications

within this month.

“The new International

Maritime Organisation

(IMO) container weighing

regulations kick in on

July 1 this year, so there

isn’t much time left,” said

Samsa’s Kirsty Goodwin,

speaking at the joint FTW/

JCCI business breakfast in

Johannesburg last week.

She told delegates that

Samsa had been upfront

with industry about its

limitations since the new

regulations had been

announced in November

2014. “We simply don’t

have the manpower to

provide the necessary

certification, hence our

call for interest from third

party providers to help

ensure industry compliance

with the new regulations,”

said Goodwin.

A Samsa-approved

verification certificate is

required for the second

method of container

weighing as prescribed

by the International

Convention for the Safety

of Life at

Sea (Solas)

regulation.

Method 2

requires the

weighing of

all packages,

pallets,

dunnage,

packing and

securing

material

separately

and adding

the tare weight of the

container to the sum.

Method 1 simply entails

the weighing of a packed

container at a weighbridge,

or an equivalent scaling

system, and it is the

shipper’s responsibility to

provide certified proof.

Managing

director

of General

& Marine

Surveyors

and

Assessors,

Dave

Johnson, told

FTW that

one of the

difficulties

with the

regulation

and the prescribed

methods was that there was

no “absolute checklist” for

compliance. “It therefore

makes sense for shippers to

work with a company that

has some experience with

the issues they deal with

during their operations –

from transport to packing

and unpacking, storage and

more,” he said

Johnson has worked

in a variety of logistics

industries for over 30 years,

including as a shipper.

Goodwin pointed

out that the approval

process for third parties

was outlined on Samsa’s

website, confirming that

SGS South Africa had also

applied to be a third party

agent.

Bruce Mills, director of

Supply Chain Compliance

Services, told FTW that he

would also be applying.

INSERT & CAPTION

We simply don’t have

the manpower to

provide the necessary

certification.

– Kirsty Goodwin