SOLAS Container Weight Verification Requirements

SOLAS Regulation VI/2 – Cargo Information requires the shipper of containerised cargoes to provide the ship’s master, or his representative, with cargo documentation specifying the gross weight of the container prior to loading it on board. 

However, in practice this SOLAS requirement has often been abused, either deliberately by unscrupulous shippers wishing to pack more into a container than it should take, or simply in error as the actual weight of packed containers may be poorly estimated.

Obviously mis-declaration of container weights can cause problems throughout the transport chain. This is particularly the case on board ships where accurate container weights are critical in planning the safe carriage of the cargo and to the safety of the vessel.

Weight Verification Timeline

Following the structural failure of the MSC Napoli in January 2007, where mis-declared container weights were identified as a contributory factor in the casualty, the IMO gave careful consideration to this issue.

The World Shipping Council (WSC) and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) were asked to develop industry best practice for safe container handling and the resultant document Safe Transport of Containers by Sea: Guidelines on Best Practice was presented to the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) in December 2008. However, these guidelines are voluntary, and as such many shippers have not adopted the advice.

In light of this in May 2011 the MSC considered proposals on Measures to Prevent Loss of Containers and possible future amendments to SOLAS making verification of packaged containers mandatory. The IMO gave this task to an Intersessional Correspondence Group (CG) and draft amendments to SOLAS and IMO guidelines on the verification of container weights was submitted for approval by in September 2013.

The MSC approved the SOLAS amendments and authorised the immediate circulation of MSC.1/Circ. 1475 9 June 2014.

In November 2014 the IMO adopted mandatory amendments to SOLAS Regulation VI/2 – Cargo Information, effective from 1 July 2016, when the global container market should comply with new international regulations that require every packed container to have container weights verified as a condition for loading.

Guidelines

In response to the new requirements the WSC and its members have developed guidelines to explain what the implementation of the SOLAS amendments will require of shippers, carriers, and terminal operators.

The regulations place a requirement on the shipper/freight forwarder of a packed container, regardless of who packed the container, to provide the container’s gross verified weight to the vessel and terminal operators sufficiently in advance of vessel loading to be used in the preparation of the stowage plan.

The vessel operator and the terminal operator will be required to use verified container weights in vessel stowage plans and will be prohibited from loading a packed container on board a vessel if the container does not have a verified container weight.

The SOLAS amendments provide that there are two methods shippers may use to determine the container weight once the container packing process has taken place, these are:

• Weighing the container after it has been packed or;
• Weighing all the cargo and contents of the container, including dunnage and securing equipment, and adding those weights to the container’s tare weight as indicated on the door end of the container.

Under either weighing method, the weighing equipment used must meet national certification and calibration requirements. Further, the party packing the container cannot use the weight somebody else has provided, except when “Individual, original sealed packages that have the accurate mass of the packages and cargo items (including any other material such as packing material and refrigerants inside the packages) clearly and permanently marked on their surfaces, do not need to be weighed again when they are packed into the container.”

The Role of the Vessel

A vessel may rely on a shipper’s signed weight verification to be accurate and is not required to be a “verifier” of the shipper’s weight verification.

The SOLAS amendments do not require vessels to verify that a shipper providing a verified weight (according to method 2 above) has used a method which has been certified and approved by the competent authority of the jurisdiction in which the packing and sealing of the container was completed.

Can a container be loaded without a Verification Certificate?

The lack of a signed weight verification certificate can be remedied by weighing the packed container at the port. However, in the event that a terminal does not possess the means to verify the weight of the container, alternative means must be found in order to obtain a verified container weight; otherwise, the packed container may not be loaded on to the ship.

The regulations making container weight verification mandatory for all vessels before loading will enter into force on 1 July 2016.