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Port and Agency Services

have been happening ever since the start of containerisation. the dunnage which, depending on the contents, can be very
Previously, the carrier and the agent had to rely on the heavy,” explained Mr Williams.

accuracy of the information provided and there was no means He believes Method 2 will appeal more to people who load
to independently check it.containers with pallets of goods of which the weight can be

The realities of the business are that, at the moment, the accurately assessed, such as crates of whisky or rolls of paper

only time that the weight will be checked again is if therebut the concern here is how all those that want to be licensed
is good reason to believe that the box was overweight, for to issue certiicates based on Method 2 can be audited and

example as indicated by the safe working load alarm on the approved in time.
lifting equipment.”“The problem is going to be the practical application of this,”

The new regulation means that when a container arrives at said Mr Williams. “One of the problems you’ve got is that the
the port, it will need to have a certiicate stating that the weight IMO regulation runs to about ten lines and all it basically says is

of the container, – including its cargo, dunnage and packaging – that every container loaded on a ship shall be accompanied by a
has been accurately veriied.certiicate verifying its gross mass. There is no further guidance

There are two ways of doing this. Method 1 involves the or instruction. It’s up to the member state to implement this.
weighing of the packed container while Method 2 takes the There is also concern about the impact on the transport

weight of the cargo, all dunnage and packing material and adds chain because under SOLAS 6.2, from 1st July, the shipping

it to the weight of the empty container.lines are not allowed to accept for loading any container which
However, although generally welcomed to improve safety, does not have a certiicate.

Mr Williams said it was unclear how shippers – and indeed the “So, the issues are going to move back up the line. The ports
rest of the transportation chain including ship agents – were running at full capacity and therefore they’ve got nowhere to

going to implement the new system.store large numbers of containers that haven’t got certiicates,
Responsibility for policing the system has been given by so they are going to send them back to the shippers,” explained

the IMO to, in most cases, the maritime safety authority for the Mr Williams.
member state. For instance, in the UK it is the Maritime and “FONASBA’s ship agent members work closely with all the

Coastguard Agency (MCA) and it is they, or their equivalent in other parties in the transport chain and are the conduit for
other countries, that will have to put the necessary measures in communication between the ship and shore. Furthermore, they

place” said Mr Williams.are often directly involved with inland haulage and so have a
clear, and unique, understanding of the practical issues that the
“That can involve making sure there are adequate weigh
bridges available, licensing those weigh bridges and authorising SOLAS amendments have raised. We are therefore encouraging

those shippers who want to use Method 2 to make sure they our member associations to actively engage with the national
have procedures in place so that it is accurately applied.authorities and their shipper and transport partners in order

“For example, we have found previously that the to bring about an effective and eficient implementation of the
calculation has added the tare weight of the container and new regulations. They need to be involved every inch of the way

the weight of the contents but overlooked the weight ofwith their designated authority.” u

The SHIP Supplier Issue 67 2015 35