Freight forwarder Kuehne + Nagel International has found that 50% of the VGMs being submitted through its online portal or via forms in China are incomplete, showing that the country is struggling to adapt to the new container weighing rule, which came into effect on July 1, 2016, according to JOC.com.
Otto Schacht, Executive Vice President for Kuehne + Nagel International, said: “That means for each single container, a Kuehne + Nagel operator must call up the shipper or vendor in China to ask them for the missing information otherwise we cannot process the data.”
PTI previously reported that currently, operators such as APM Terminals (APMT) were dealing with the new amendment successfully, after having seen a smooth transition into the regulation.
However, the problem appears to be on the shipper side, with recent PTI news reporting that shippers are concerned that carriers and forwarders are using VGM submissions processes to increase revenue.
This was supported by a recent statement from the Global Shippers Forum which stated that this does appear to be case and that the charges are both ‘exorbitant’ and ‘unjustified’.
TT Club recently called for greater clarity when tackling the new rule, stating that it is an important amendment based on improving global safety and efficiency.
Global port operators and carriers such as Maersk Line and DP World have shown their support of the new amendment by introducing their own container weighing services.
