The IMO requirement that enhances container weight control will be effective as of 1 July 2016 pursuant to the amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) and is designed to ensure safety of vessels, as well as loading and unloading operations at ports.
The amendments provide that the weight of each packed container needs to be documented and evidenced by the relevant certificate. After the effective date of the SOLAS amendments the VGM certificate will be required for loading packed containers aboard a vessel.
The shipper is responsible for verifying the accuracy of the information. Verification will involve either weighing a packed container using certificated equipment, or weighing the cargo itself before loading into the container and adding that weight to the container’s tare weight.
To comply with the IMO requirement the processes and operating procedures at all Global Ports container terminals have been modified accordingly, information systems have been adapted to accommodate the VGM electronic data exchange between the cargo owner and the port operator.
Concurrently, Global Ports terminals have been properly equipped to allow verification within the territory of the port. The VGM certificate will be issued to cargo owners in electronic form. JSC First Container Terminal, LLC Moby Dik and LLC Vostochnaya Stevedoring Company have already obtained a VGM Certificate evidencing the right to render verification services from the Russian Marine Register of Shipping.
JSC Petrolesport and OJSC Ust-Luga Container Terminal have made the relevant filings with the Register and expect to obtain the VGM certificate by 20 June. According to Vasily Shultsev, Director of the Commercial Department in the NorthWest Region, the new VGM control requirements will not trigger delays in cargo handling or increased time of container storage at terminals. Vasily Shultsev said: “The Group does not intend to make fundamental changes to the rules of export container acceptance at Global Ports terminals. Containers with VGM will be accepted in accordance with our efficient operating procedures. If there is no VGM certificate, a container will be weighed at the time the car enters the port, subject to a prior verification request.”