<<A solution to the challenges confronting the industry by the SOLAS container weights rule proposed by the head of the Port of Charleston could be workable in practice and not disrupt trade, according to a key player in the development of the rule, which enters force July 1.
Chris Koch, a lawyer and former CEO of the World Shipping Council, which represents container lines and helped develop the Verified Gross Mass rule, said there should be no reason why a terminal couldn’t use the container weights it currently derives through the longstanding practice of weighing containers upon arrival at the terminal. Koch is also a former general counsel of Sea-Land Service Inc. and former chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission.
“It is not evident to me what problem the Coast Guard would have with this,” Koch told JOC.com on Tuesday.
The Coast Guard has yet to respond to JOC.com queries on whether this approach would be allowed and if so, how that process would occur within the bounds prescribed by the International Maritime Organization.
The idea proposed by Newsome, which diverged sharply from other U.S. terminals, is to use U.S. terminals’ existing practices of weighing containers upon arrival at the terminal in compliance with U.S. workplace safety rules. Others, such as the ports of Savannah and Virginia, and the Maher terminal at New York-New Jersey, say they will not offer weighing services to generate the VGM.
According to Koch, the amendment to the Safety of Life at Sea convention allows the terminal to weigh containers that arrive at the terminal without the VGM having been provided by the shipper.
What is in question, however, is responsibility. The SOLAS rule assigns the responsibility for generating the VGM to the shipper on the bill of lading. Some terminals are understood to be concerned about their legal liability for generating an inaccurate VGM. According to a major container line, at least 13 U.S. terminals, including Maher, have told it that they will not accept export containers without a VGM at the time of arrival.
But Newsome is staking out a different position, saying that existing weighing processes could simply substitute for a shipper-generated VGM created earlier in the supply chain. Whether that will be feasible under the VGM rule, as Koch is suggesting, is one of the key questions being asked of the Coast Guard currently.
Newsome told JOC.com last week that he hopes Charleston can provide a “constructive solution that helps the shipping industry.” Such a solution would potentially be achievable by piggybacking on an existing process, rather than forcing shippers to generate the VGM either through Method 1, which involves weighing the packed container, or Method 2, which allows the shipper to weigh all the contents of the container and add that to the tare weight, or unloaded weight, of the container.
“I think this could easily represent a best practice that has long been in place, provides accurate weight data and ensures that commerce continues to flow efficiently through our ports,” Newsome told JOC.com last week.>>
Fuente: JOC.com, Peter Tirschwell, http://www.joc.com/regulation-policy/transportation-regulations/international-transportation-regulations/solas-weighting-services-ports-feasible-says-former-liner-group-head_20160223.html?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily%25newswire&mgs1=c926mfpDzW