An extended-awaited new regulation requiring the gross mass of a container to be verified earlier than it’s loaded onto a ship enters into pressure on Friday amid some confusion over how the brand new rule can be applied.

The new rule, generally known as the verified gross mass requirement, or SOLAS VGM, enters into pressure July 1, 2016 beneath the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), promising to extend security by guaranteeing that the thousands and thousands of containers carried on ships annually are optimally stowed.

In 2011, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) started to develop measures to stop the lack of containers in response to issues of Member States and the delivery business following a lot of incidents involving lack of containers and containerships, such because the sinking of the MSC Napoli in 2007 and capsizing of the MV Deneb in 2011. The lack of the MOL Comfort in 2013, considered the worst containership loss in historical past, later underscored the seriousness of the problem.

The purpose of the IMO was to develop additional measures to enrich the present provisions aimed on the stability and protected operation of containerships, together with the protected packing, dealing with and transport of containers. While there has at all times been a requirement to declare the gross mass of cargo and containers, the SOLAS modification takes it a step additional by requiring verification of the mass of a packed container for a real reflection the precise gross mass.

According to the amendments to SOLAS regulation VI/2, shippers can use considered one of two strategies to confirm the gross mass of packed containers.

Method 1 entails weighing the packed container utilizing a calibrated and licensed gear, a service solely a number of the world’s prime ports have the flexibility to supply presently.

Method 2, alternatively, entails weighing all packages and cargo gadgets, together with the mass of pallets, dunnage and different securing materials to be packed within the container, and including the tare mass of the container to the sum of the one lots, utilizing a licensed methodology accredited by the competent authority of the State wherein packing of the container was accomplished.

One of the most important sources of confusion stems from the actual fact that it’s the shipper who should make sure that the verified gross mass of every packed container is said within the delivery doc. Under the brand new rule a container won’t be loaded onto a ship until the doc is signed by the shipper and submitted to the grasp and terminal consultant early sufficient so {that a} stowage plan to be drawn up.

To assist shippers and delivery business group put together for the brand new rule, the IMO has mentioned that Administrations and port State management authorities ought to undertake a sensible and pragmatic strategy when verifying compliance throughout the first three months following entry into pressure, with a view to allowing packed containers which had been loaded previous to July 1, 2016 to be shipped to their ultimate port with out verified gross mass info.

This strategy, the IMO says, is “intended to allow for flexibility to all the stakeholders in containerized transport in order for procedures for documenting, communicating and sharing verified gross mass information to be refined, if necessary”.

For extra info on the SOLAS Container Mass Verification Requirements, see these Frequently Asked Questions.