The International Maritime Organization (IMO) amended the Convention on the safety of human life at sea (SOLAS), forcing the container to carry out the total weight verification before loading. The provision will be implemented globally in July 1, 2016. Elizabeth Turnbull and Marcia Peruka analyzed the obligations of the consignor, the carrier and the port wharf, and the preparations for the industry.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) amended the Convention on the safety of human life at sea (SOLAS), forcing the container to carry out the total weight verification before loading. The provision will be implemented globally in July 1, 2016. Elizabeth Turnbull and Marcia Peruka analyzed the obligations of the consignor, the carrier and the port wharf, and the preparations for the industry. This article focuses on the influence of the shipper.
Part I: the impact on the shipper
1. Background
It has been over 50 years in the history of maritime container transportation, and people will wonder why the containerized weight has been carried out this year.
The false declaration of the weight of the container will cause the collapse of the container stacking, the casualties and the damage of the equipment and goods. The accidents caused by the false declaration of the weight of the container are common. Based on the purpose of reducing and eliminating accidents caused by container weight, the industry has launched an initiative to force container weighing. After years of consultations, the IMO Maritime Safety Committee adopted the amendment of the sixth chapter of the SOLAS convention in November 2014, which forced the weighing of containers. The amendment will come into force in July 1st this year. This provision will help correct the container in the ship stowage, reduce and avoid the occurrence of related accidents.
The new regulations will affect all the parties concerned in the container transport supply chain, and the shipper will bear the brunt.
Two. What is the shipper
In order to facilitate the effective implementation of the provision, IMO has developed a "guide for weight verification of loading container accumulative calculation method" (hereinafter referred to as "guide").
The guide will be defined as: "shipper" in the bill of lading or sea waybill or other equivalent multimodal single (as by "bill of lading") designated as shipper legal entities or individuals, and / or signed a transport contract with the shipping company or on its behalf or on behalf of the shipping company signed the contract of carriage people.
In the actual working group, the shipper may be the cargo owner (the cargo owner or exporter), the ship free carrier, or the company or individual responsible for the carbox.
Three. Specific requirements
3 months before the containerized shipment, the shipper decides what method is taken to obtain the total weight (VGM).
(1) selection of weighing methods
The SOLAS Convention provides two ways to weigh the container as follows:
The overall weighing method: the loading container is weighed as a whole by the equipment that has been checked and certified.
The cumulative calculation method: after the packing weighing method approved by the competent authorities of the container and packing all the weight of the goods are weighed, and the container chassis, gasket and other securing material and the container itself weight to calculate the overall cumulative weight cargo container.
The choice of weighing methods depends entirely on the types of the goods to be transported and the weighing facilities available to the shipper. For example, method two can not be used for goods that can not be weighed independently for their own characteristics, such as scrap iron, non packaged grains and other bulk goods.
In order to obtain VGM and other necessary evidence, the shipper also needs to examine the specific requirements of the Contracting States of the SOLAS Convention on packing and weighing. For example, the notice issued by the maritime authority of the United Kingdom (British Maritime and coast guard department) (MNG534) stipulates that the existing credit system (such as ISO9000) should be used for weighing when using the method two, and the first method should be implemented by weighing and measuring rules.
(two) VGM certificate
The shipper shall ensure that the container VGM certificate by the shipper or the signature of authorized person, and according to the requirements of the master or its representatives will VGM certificate submitted in advance to the captain or his representative and representative for the ship dock, making stowage plan to use.
The shipper shall be to transport documents form as soon as possible to verify the gross cargo containers are provided to the master or their representatives and terminal operators, the documents can be submitted to the part of the carrier shipping instructions, can also be a separate proof material, the most important thing is to note the total weight is VGM". Information may be submitted in electronic form, which may be replaced by an electronic signature of the carrier or by the name of the authorized person (capital letter).
Although the SOLAS amendment requires the shipper to submit the VGM to the captain and the docks, the IMO guideline clarifies that the shipper delivers the VGM to the captain, even if it fulfils the obligations stipulated in the Convention, so that the captain can deliver the VGM to the dock operator. But the shipper needs to submit the weight certificate to the terminal operator when the container is shipped to the dock related facilities.
The new regulations do not specify the specific time to provide such information, only before the loading plan is prepared. In order to ensure the smooth loading of the container, the shipper must communicate with the carrier and the terminal operator in advance and make clear the time of delivery.
In addition, if they do not conform to these Provisions, the shipper may face severe punishment, which depends on the different provisions of the States parties.
In view of this, the shipper should seriously consider the new provisions of the Convention and the related costs and responsibilities of container weighing, so as to assess and modify the terms of the contract.