Overweight and mis-declarations of contents of containers has caused serious accidents and incidents such as collapse of stacks, loss of containers from ships and related damage, including damage to and loss of small craft. Overweight containers played a key role in the breakup and beaching of the MSC Napoli in the United Kingdom in 2007, the capsizing of the Daneb, a 500-TEU feeder ship, in the Spanish port of Algeciras in June 2011 and the 3450 TEU M/V Ital Florida lost at least three fully laden containers in severe seas between June 16 & 19 in the Arabian Sea, on her maiden Voyage!

The new IMO SOLAS (Safety of Life at SEA)Regulationcomes into effect on 1 July globally, after which non-compliant containers will not be allowed Port Access!!

Shippers are required to statethe Verified Gross Mass on the pre shipment advicedocuments to the Ports for the ships stowage plans. This document must includefrom 1 July, the 3rd party Inspectors (appointed by SAMSA)Accreditation number issued by SAMSA â€" SA Maritime Safety Authority, + the Verified Gross Mass + the Shippers certification, without which containers will not be allowed into the Ports, hence could pose a serious problem for exporters.

1 July is only 4 weeks away, yet despite continual information sharing of this, many organisations, appear to be neither aware, nor yet prepared for this significant change to global container operations. SAMSA last week stated that only 7 organisations out of the thousands that export each month, had been certified as compliant to VGM!!!

Under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), the IMO has agreed on two methods for verifying a freight container’s gross mass: -

Method 1: Weigh the container and its contents on a calibrated and certified instrument such as a weighbridge or other piece of suitable equipment.
Method 2: Weigh all of the cargo items being packed into the container along with dunnage, securing and lashing materials and the tare weight of the container and aggregate them together to arrive at an aggregated weight.

NB - It is the shipper’s responsibility to ensure compliance, hence it is essential for monitoring and enforcement on the roads, as this is the starting point to rail and sea transport

For further information on the IMO and SAMSA Guidelines see SAMSA Marine Notice MN 25 and MN 26 to see the 10 companies currently Accredited to do 3rd Party Assessment on their behalf, or contact the RPMASA â€" info@rpmasa.org.za 032 927 1145

Liz Anderson
2 June 2016