The spectre of ports clogged up with boxes barred from being loaded onto vessels and shipments missing their sailings in the wake of the introduction of mandatory container weighing failed to materialize, but shippers’ relief soon gave way to anger over some logistics providers’ steps to leverage the new regime to hit their clients with fresh charges.

As of July 1, shippers worldwide have to submit verified gross mass (VGM) information about loaded containers to shipping lines prior to their loading onto vessels. The new regulation, an amendment to The Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) by the International Maritime Organisation, was formulated to prevent accidents at sea as well as at ports caused by overloaded containers.

The countdown to the new regime was fretful, replete with dire warnings of a possible meltdown at ports and shippers scrambling to move shipments that had failed to receive clearance for loading because of SOLAS issues. Only days before the implementation, one large forwarder reported that most declarations from shippers in China were missing required data.

There was also widespread confusion over a number of issues, from the matter of legal liability to the proper process of dealing with containers that miss their sailings because of VGM issues. Reports that many container terminals lacked scales to weigh loaded containers added to the apprehension.

In the event, many handling facilities provided container-weighing services, while forwarders and shipping lines tried to find solutions for shippers to meet the VGM requirement. SEKO Logistics, for example, partnered with INTTRA, an electronic marketplace for ocean cargo, to submit VGM data through the INTTRA portal.

In many cases, forwarders and shippers embraced simpler solutions. Many shippers measured the weight of the cargo and the tare weight of the container and added up the numbers.

Reminiscent of the Y2K bug scare at the turn of the millennium, the introduction of SOLAS turned out to be a non-event. Ports in North America reported no issues after the first day, and the start of the new regime in Asia passed equally smoothly, according to forwarders based in the region.

During the following days, however, anger began to mount over questionable charges levied by some forwarders, terminal operators and shipping lines in association with the new regime. Some introduced ‘administration fees,’ ‘VGM transmission fees’ or simply added a charge for ‘services.’ Allegedly, some shipping lines have indicated plans to charge a fine if their checks were to reveal a discrepancy between VGM stated by the shipper and their own measurement.

The Global Shippers Forum (GSF) was one of the first industry bodies to get on the barricades.

“Regrettably, GSF members, mainly in Asia and Africa, report that some carriers and other ‘service providers’ appear to be exploiting the introduction of the new VGM rules by imposing exorbitant and unjustified charges for questionable and unspecified ‘administration fees’ and other ‘services,’” the organization declared in a statement.

“Shippers worldwide support the safety goals of the container-weighing requirements and are committed to fulfilling their regulatory requirements, but this should not be used by supply chain partners as an excuse to impose unjustified fees,” commented GSF secretary general Chris Welsh.

The Hong Kong Shippers Council has also criticized charges, arguing that data-entry requirements in some cases would not justify additional fees.

Some forwarders that have introduced VGM-related charges have defended their actions, citing time and effort in keying in data, besides a potential financial risk to the SOLAS environment.

To date, nobody has argued that shippers have saved significant amounts of money thanks to the smooth implementation of SOLAS, as this has avoided the spectre of having to send goods by air in case containers were barred from loading onto ships. For their part, airlines would have welcomed a windfall of cargo diverted from ocean carriers, but those hopes have been dashed.

By Ian Putzger

Correspondent | Toronto