A petition instigated by the Cochin Steamer Agents’ Association to the local high court has given shippers the authority to force DP World’s terminal at Cochin to abandon its efforts to charge a fee for verified gross mass (VGM) declarations, according to JOC.com.
Jiby Itty, CEO of DP World Cochin, said: “In view of the request made by stakeholders and the trade, we have decided to suspend the trade notice (of VGM charges) and to absorb the cost for now.”
Technical Paper: The Methods for Ports Offering VGM Compliance
The Directorate said: “The amendments to the SOLAS convention pertaining to safety aspects should not be unfairly and unreasonably leveraged by intermediaries between shipper and ship to impose an additional burden/cost on the exporter of cargo from India, thereby hindering export trade of India.”
Keep an eye on new releases, as PTI is due to release its second container weighing eBook, in which top names give insight on the developments made since the rule came into effect on July 1.
This follows news that India had been previously shut out of the VGM process, despite efforts made by the private terminal operators to prepare for the SOLAS amendment.
Technical Paper: Method, Risk and Regulation: A Container Weighing Insight
The issues stemming from container weighing have mainly been voiced by shippers, who have claimed that carriers and forwarders have been using VGM fees to increase revenue.
During the time of reporting, China were also seeing difficulties, since 50% of declarations made via freight forwarder’s Kuehne + Nagel’s online portal were incomplete.
