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HomeNewsContainer weight rule is about safety not surcharges, says GSF

Container weight rule is about safety not surcharges, says GSF

Members of the GSF, meeting in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, expressed their dismay and anger at the way some shipping lines, forwarders and port terminals are charging excessive fees for the processing of mandatory container weight verification requirements. One GSF member reported a US $25 surcharge being imposed by one terminal in East Asia for just accepting a Verified Gross Mass (VGM) declaration.

GSF members considered new information showing that the true costs of processing this small, but safety-critical piece of information were a small fraction of the surcharges and fees actually being added to shippers’ bills.

Members were also reminded that the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) rule required the verification of container weights to be made by the shipper. The requirement for shippers to make accurate weight declarations is not new and shipping lines have long been required to know the gross weight of containers being loaded on board a ship to ensure that ship is safely stowed and remains stable. GSF says there is no justification for the fees being charged for this supposedly new information, unless the carrier, forwarder or terminal is legitimately providing a third-party service for example in physically weighing the container.

After the meeting GSF Secretary General Chris Welsh said: “Global shippers are angry at the way the new SOLAS requirement is being implemented by some carriers, forwarders and terminals around the world.

“The shipping industry campaigned vigorously for the introduction of this new requirement on safety grounds. it is therefore regrettable that many in the maritime supply chain, including some carriers, are using the opportunity of the new rules to levy unjustified and arbitrary surcharges on shippers. As part of GSF’s campaign to rid world trade of Surcharges by 2020 this practice has got to stop now!”

GSF members, representing shippers from four continents, earlier adopted a resolution to campaign for an end to all unjustified surcharges by 2020. They also agreed to call on the IMO to review the implementation of the new regulation at the end of the year, six months after implementation, if the practice of unjustified fees and surcharges for the provision of accurate weight data in compliance with the rules has not ended.

Chris Welsh continued: “It is simply not acceptable that shippers’ well-meaning efforts to comply with an important safety regulation is leading to demands for new payments far in excess of the costs of processing that information. It does the shipping industry’s reputation for safety poor service for safety-conscious shippers to be exploited in this way.

“The wider shipping community including carriers, forwarders and terminals needs to remember that SOLAS stands for Safety of Life at Sea, not Serial Opportunities for Levying Additional Surcharges”.

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