Vincent Clerc, Chief Commercial Officer for Maersk Line, has said that, in the first six months of the new container weighing regulation coming into force on July 1, 2016 the shipping industry can expect to see a ‘bumpy’ period, according to JOC.com.
Mr Clerc said: “We are committed to making the process as easy as possible – but we also anticipate the next six months being bumpy. The customer benefits of a properly implemented and enforced regulation are important to have in mind, especially in these last hectic days before we go live.
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“As we have been preparing for implementation of VGM [Verified Gross Mass], it has become clear that coordination and alignment on a global level – with hundreds of jurisdictions with very different shipping and trade traditions – have to improve.”
It was recently reported by PTI that less than 15% of the 162 IMO Member States that are signatories to SOLAS have given shippers and operators any helpful guidelines.
The recent IMO Circular has called for a more pragmatic and practical approach to container weighing, adding that more collaboration is needed to effectively implement the new rule.
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Asian line Orient Overseas Container Lines is set to charge big for container weighing services and will weigh containers randomly to check the VGM weight submitted by the shipper.
Currently, there are two methods for weighing containers. The first is weighing the tare weight of the container and its contents together, with the second method being to weigh the contents and tare weight of the container separately.
