Period of grace to prepare for weighing regulations ends

The three-month grace period suggested by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for compliance to the new container weighing regulations has ended on October 1.

During the settling-in period, competent authorities were urged to adopt a “practical and pragmatic” approach to comply with the amendments to the international convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) requiring all packed containers to have a verified gross mass (VGM) before being loaded on a ship.

According to freight industry insurer TT Club, despite reported levels of compliance since the enforcement of the new regulations on July 1 were encouraging, “much still needs to be done to achieve accurate VGM certification and universal enforcement of the rules”.