European Shippers call for harmonization of container weight regulations

The European Shippers’ Council says shippers want to know how to practically work with guidelines put in place by new International Maritime Organization regulations regarding container weights, which go into effect next July.    The European Shippers’ Council says there is a need for harmonization of guidelines having to do with container weight regulations in order for businesses to comply with new requirements from the International Maritime Organization.
   Effective July 1, 2016, a change to the IMO Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention requires that shipper provide a verified weight for a container before it is loaded on a ship.
   “Although shippers throughout Europe are fully wared of the upcoming regulatory and practical demands following the mandatory weighing of containers, a lack of international harmonization poses a challenge for many businesses,” ESC said in a statement.
   “Just a handful of countries have published national regulations for the weighing of containers,” the group added. “Businesses need these regulations in order to ship their products overseas following the right guidelines.”
    According to the World Shipping Council, a trade organization for the container shipping industry, “Under the SOLAS amendments, there are two permissible methods for weighing: Method 1, which requires weighing the container after it has been packed, or Method 2, which requires weighing all the cargo and contents of the container and adding those weights to the container’s tare weight as indicated on the door end of the container.”
   ESC said, “National regulations mainly define what certification will have to be put in place to use Method 2 (which will be the preferred method for numerous shippers around the globe). As shippers want to know how to practically work by these guidelines, the ESC urges these countries to do so as quickly as possible.”