UK shippers will be able to comply with the new Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) container weight regulations after it was announced that the Port of Liverpool will be the first UK port to provide details of its container weighing solution.
Whitepaper: Container Weighing Explained
From July 1, 2016, in order to protect the safety of ships, SOLAS requires every loaded export container ship to have its weight verified before it is loaded on to a ship.
Peel Ports has undertaken a consultation process with Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) and its customers to help avoid potential export disruption for exporters.
Read: Carriers Act in Container Weight Debate
The plan is to have the ability to weigh all containers as part of an in-process weighing scheme which will not impact on productivity.
Similar approaches will be adapted at Peel Ports’ other UK container terminals in Dublin, Glasgow and Manchester.
With all containers converging on ports to be loaded on ships, terminals have been suggested as the most logical point in the supply chain to weigh boxes.
David Huck, Port Director at the Port of Liverpool, said: “To support our customers’ requirements and comply with the changing legislation, we will integrate a verified gross mass weighing process into our existing terminal operating systems in order to capture the verified weight of export containers.”
