Damco to offer VGM services

The freight forwarding arm of Danish shipping conglomerate AP Moller Maersk said it will provide weighing and data transmission services to help shippers comply with new SOLAS verified gross mass requirements.    Freight forwarding giant Damco on Tuesday launched two services to support shippers in meeting new international maritime safety regulations aimed at reducing the risk of accidents from overweight containers.
   Under amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea convention that go into effect worldwide on July 1, shippers are required to provide ocean carriers the verified gross mass (VGM) of containers prior to vessel loading. The carriers’ preferred methods are for shippers to send in measurements for the entire container or by summing up the tare weight of the container and its contents.
   Many shippers may not have the wherewithal to weigh outbound containers in an efficient manner and are expected to rely on third parties, including many port terminals in the United States that already have scales for weighing outbound containers.
   Damco, the forwarding division of Danish shipping conglomerate AP Moller Maersk, said it would offer shippers the ability to physically weigh their shipments as well as a service for filing the data with ocean lines. 
   The company said that its VGM services can be tuned to each customer’s specific requirements and regulatory differences in various countries.