NYK adopts INTTRA’s VGM solution

The Japanese ocean carrier became the latest steamship line to partner with e-commerce solutions provider INTTRA to provide verified gross mass data.    Japanese ocean carrier NYK Line has become the latest steamship line to partner with ocean freight e-commerce solutions provider INTTRA for providing verified gross mass (VGM) data submission functionality, the companies said Wednesday.
   The VGM rule, which went into effect July 1, requires that shippers or consolidators provide carriers with a verified weight for their containers by either weighing the laden container; or calculating the contents of cargo, dunnage and pallets, then adding that to the tare weight of the container. The VGM must be submitted to carriers to allow vessel and terminal operators to properly plan stowage.
   INTTRA has played a prominent role in industry awareness of the VGM rule and released its eVGM solution in March. Since then, a number of major forwarders and ocean carriers have publicly committed to using INTTRA for submission of the data.
   INTTRA, through its ocean freight booking portal, oversees roughly a quarter of containers globally across its platform.
   “Differentiation through technology is central to the strategy of our company, and INTTRA is a key technology partner,” NYK’s Head of Global Business Process Management Lincoln Leung said. “The flexibility of the INTTRA eVGM solution enhances our range of customer solutions relating to SOLAS VGM, and we will benefit from the efficiencies of standardization.”
   INTTRA can accept the VGM data from shippers or forwarders in a number of ways (including EDI, email or through its online portal) and converts the information into a standardized format to submit to carriers.
   “NYK’s selection of INTTRA’s eVGM network is another signal that the world’s leading carriers and freight forwarders are coalescing around a common compliance solution: the INTTRA eVGM Service,” INTTRA’s Asia President Jim Whalen said. “We welcome NYK as an important addition to the network.”