Top shipping groups repeat call for containers to be weighed

IMO must make it a legal requirement, demand WSC and ICS

Leading shipping representatives claim overweight containers continue to pose a safety risk to containerships, their crew and supply chain operators.

The World Shipping Council (WSC) and International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) urged the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to make it illegal for containers to be loaded without first being weighed.

In a joint statement, the two organisations said: “In the absence of a legal requirement that marine terminal operators perform a weighing function for all loaded containers before vessel loading, it seems likely that a substantial number of containers will continue to go unweighed, and that overweight containers will continue to pose a risk to safe ship operations, to ships’ crew, and to other personnel in the transport chain.”

The WSC said the 2008 publication, Safe Transport of Containers by Sea, Guidelines on Industry Best Practices, had had “little discernible effect on reducing the incidences of shippers’ providing incorrect container weights, or on ensuring that marine terminals verify the weight of loaded containers upon receipt/prior to loading”.

The organisations called on the IMO to establish a universal international regulatory requirement to prevent dangerous loading.

This should ensure that “export cargo containers must be weighed by the marine terminal upon receipt and before vessel loading, and that the actual container weights be made available to the vessel operator and used for vessel stowage planning” said the statement. (source: IFW)

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