Our Ocean Freight Manager Ed Mellamphy has been raising awareness about the requirement for shippers to provide verification of the weights of containers they are shipping, which will come into force from 1st July 2016.
Recently the Safety Of Life At Sea (SOLAS) regulations have been amended and from 1st July 2016 the gross mass of all packed containers must be verified.
In the United Kingdom this regulation will be enforced by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) and places a requirement on the shippers of packed containers to verify and provide the container’s gross mass to the carrier prior to the container being loaded onto a ship.
There are 2 ways in which shippers can verify the gross mass which are:
‘Method 1’ – Weighing the packed container using calibrated and certified weighing equipment (e.g. a weighbridge)
‘Method 2’ – Obtaining approval from the MCA to weigh all cargo and packing materials prior to them being loaded into the container and then adding these weights to the tare weight of the container
Please see below a link to the MCA’s notice regarding the regulations which also includes details of both Methods 1 & 2 and how to apply for approval if a shipper wishes to use Method 2.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/436986/MGN534_Complete.pdf
