Is weighing containers really that difficult?

These two incidents led to the publication by the International Chamber of Shipping and the World Shipping Council of “Safe Transport of Containers by Sea – Guidelines on Best Practices”.

In this document, these two bodies stated that overloading a container is something that can never be condoned and that the party stuffing the container is responsible for ensuring that the gross mass of the container is in accordance with the gross mass given on the shipping documents. Furthermore, the guidelines state that terminal operators should verify the weights of incoming containers before they are loaded.

Despite this, nothing seems to be happening to ensure that weighing takes place and the container shipping industry, including all those who sail on deepsea and shortsea/feeder vessels, continues to rely on shippers being accurate and honest when they declare the weight of their cargo to the carriers.