Container Weighing Requirements Capt. Declan Black Nautical Surveyor Marine Survey Office

Background Industry concern worldwide due to problems with miss declared container weights A number of accidents where overweight containers were found to be a factor Danger to Ships Danger to shore personnel Cost to industry

Deneb in Algeciras

Napoli Structural Failure

Darwin Port near miss

Melbourne

MV Limari in Damietta

Gard P&I claims

P&O Nedlloyd Genoa

New SOLAS Requirements From 1 st July 2016 verified gross mass to be provided by the shipper to the ships master or their representative and to the terminal prior to loading

Requirements in Ireland

Who is the Shipper? The Shipper in these regulations means a legal entity or person named on the bill of lading or sea waybill or equivalent multimodal transport document (e.g. “through” bill of lading) as shipper and/or who (or in whose name or on whose behalf) a contract of carriage has been concluded with a shipping company

Method No.1 Upon the conclusion of the packing and sealing of a container, the shipper may weigh, or have arranged that a third party weighs, the packed container

Method No. 2 The shipper may weigh all packages or cargo items that are to be packed in the container, including any packing material, dunnage, securing/lashing material and add the total to the tare mass of the container being used. A record of the calculation should be retained by the shipper for inspection by relevant authorities.

Weighing Equipment Meet the requirements of the European Communities (Non-Automatic Weighing Instruments) Regulations currently in force (S.I. 424 of 1992). Standard required is Class III as laid out in the current EU Directive.

Legislation The changes to SOLAS will be incorporated in the next Merchant Shipping Bill which is currently being prepared

Enforcement in Ireland Port state control inspections under the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control This may be broadened in the future to random weighing, inspection of records at premises

International Enforcement Port State Control inspections Information from terminals Random selection for weighing

Tolerances The requirement under SOLAS is for a verified gross mass in accordance with national standards Some countries are declaring the tolerance they will allow before considering prosecution or other enforcement methods. These appear to vary from +/- 2% to +/- 5%

Further Information IMO Circular MSC.1/Circ.1475 VGM industry guidelines jointly produced by TT Club, World Shipping Council, ICHCA and the Global Shippers Forum

Thank You Questions?