What You Need to Know

About the New Regulation

Verified container weights will become effective beginning 1 July 2016. At this time, all containers must be accurately weighed prior to vessel loading.

Misdeclared container weights have a serious impact on the stability of vessels, trucks and terminal equipment. This can pose safety concerns at the port and beyond including risks:

History of the SOLAS Container Weight Regulation

The regulation has been under development for some time, but is now reaching critical enforcement milestones.

JANUARY 2007

Major vessel collapse with 20% of 660 containers later found to have misdeclared stated weights.

DECEMBER 2008

International Chamber of Shipping develops Safe Transport of Containers by Sea: Guidelines on Best Practices.

APRIL 2011

Mariners Alerting and Reporting Scheme (MARS) warns of the hazards of under-declared cargo weights in its report.

MAY 2013

Draft amendments to SOLAS and IMO guidelines submitted for approval to the IMO Intersessional Correspondence Group.

NOVEMBER 2014

IMO moved to adopt the mandatory SOLAS Regulation VI/2 for Cargo Weight Details.

NOVEMBER 2008

Containers crushed due to incorrect container weights reported, with other frequent incidents at ports worldwide.

SEPTEMBER 2009

Netherlands-led study published that recommends that all packed export containers be weighed prior to vessel loading.

JUNE 2012

IMO considers possible future amendments to SOLAS making verification of packaged containers mandatory.

1 JULY 2016

SOLAS Container Weight Verification Regulation comes into force.

Statistics & Critical Analysis of the Regulation

The era of megaships is here as the global shipping industry increasingly turns to larger vessels to drive down costs. However, larger vessels: (1) are more prone to instability, (2) could cause greater damage, or (3) result in a larger environmental impact - up to one million gallons of fuel oil.

Source: IHS Maritime & Trade

TEUs Shipped with an Incorrect Weight: Containerized Trade, 1997-2015

measurement, which speaks to an industry-wide problem.

Weighing Methodology Options

Covering 171 countries, the SOLAS Container Weight information is also about moving data as well as maintaining and improving safety standards. Carriers, forwarders and shippers should note that:

TIMING

FORMAT

Shippers, who are often the responsible party to ensure that containers are properly weighed, have two options to obtain an accurate weight. Option number two of the available methods is anticipated to be the more widely used approach.

VALIDATION

tolerances and other scenario-driven differences will need to be refined.