<<SEA ISLAND, Georgia —Container lines, at least in the U.S., are starting to take forceful action to prepare for theSafety of Life at Sea, or SOLAS, weight verification rule.
An ocean carrier equipment management association involving 17 carriers is using its technical experience in implementing the 24-hour advance filing rule imposed after September 11, 2001 as a guide for how shippers will send Verified Gross Mass declarations to container lines once the SOLAS weight verification rule takes effect on July 1.
The World Shipping Council — which advocated for the International Maritime Organization rule for its carrier membership — handed off the task of mapping the process to the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association, Bill Payne, vice chairman, NYK Line (North America), said Monday at the Georgia Foreign Trade Conference in Sea Island, Georgia. Under the rule, shippers are required to weigh their cargo using one of two methods and provide a signed VGM to the carrier. Under the rule, carriers and terminal operators are barred from loading containers unaccompanied by the VGM.
“This is a matter of discipline and process,” Payne said. “What OCEMA is doing is process-mapping how carriers today get the information on the 24-hour rule, and how they could then do it under the SOLAS VGM, no more, no less. So steady as she goes, we take a breath, we go through the process,” he said.
Payne said there is a lot of information embedded within the export supply chain that could be useful in obtaining the data needed for exporters to comply with the rule in such a way that cargo flows don't get disrupted.
“From the carrier side it’s a little hard for us to just understand the entirety of a commercial transaction, but nobody rolls out of bed in the morning and decides they’re going to export freight that day,” Payne said. “There is a commercial process, there may be a letter of credit, there is a lot involved and there is a lot of data available that heretofore maybe we haven’t exposed.”
Key to the challenge is ensuring a smooth flow of information from the shipper or forwarder to the carrier and then to the terminal, where the VGM must according to the rule be received early enough to be used when building the stowage plan for the ship. If the issues aren't successfully worked through, the flow of information could be a disruptive factor given that manual documentation is currently used for upwards of half of all container shipments globally, according to Inttra. The challenge is especially important in the U.S. where at least some terminals, including Maher at New York-New Jersey, are saying theywon’t accept containersthrough their in-gates without already having received the VGM via electronic means. The OCEMA involvement is also important given theU.S. Coast Guard’s positionthat it will only be involved peripherally, and - perhaps to the disappointment of some who were looking to the agency for answers - will not dictate operational rules to the various parties in the supply chain.
Having OCEMA work with the Coast Guard, shippers and carriers will ensure the latter don’t use the mandate to heighten already fierce competition, Payne said. OCEMA, whose members control nearly 90 percent of global container capacity, was key in helping carriers meet the 2002 U.S. rule requiring carriers and non-vessel operating common carriers to send their manifest information at least 24 hours before departure from the port of embarkation.
“I think safety is paramount for much of what we do and should be, and I don’t think it is mutually exclusive to the fluidity of the supply chain,” Payne said.>>
Fuente: JOC.com, Peter Tirschwell, http://www.joc.com/regulation-policy/transportation-regulations/international-transportation-regulations/container-lines-take-action-ahead-solas_20160208.html