Elektrans Global

IMO mandatory container weighing rule to take effect in 2016

Containerization is a system of inter-modal freight transport using inter-modal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers) made of weathering steel. The containers have standardized dimensions. Container ships have been getting bigger since they began operating in liner services over 60 years ago because the increased size gives increased operating efficiency and improved environmental performance.

Some of the world's biggest container ships are about 1,300 feet long - that's nearly 400 meters or the distance around an Olympic running track - with a maximum width of 194 feet (59 meters). Their engines weigh 2,300 tons, their propellers 130 tons, and there are twenty-one story’s between their bridge and their engine room. They can be operated by teams of just thirteen people and a sophisticated computer system and carry an astonishing 19,000 20-foot containers.

Consequent to several accident/incidents of overloading and excessive hull stresses of container ships, IMO adopted an amendment to SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea )chapter VI Regulation 2 to avoid such accidents/incidents in the future ie. ‘Mandatory Container Weighment’. This amendment will come into force as of 1st July 2016.

Under the revised rule, the weight of the container must be verified either by weighing the unit or weighing all the cargo it contains via a method approved by each respective country. Container lines, port labor and terminal operators have pointed to recent accidents, including the breaking up of the MSC Napoli on the southern U.K. coast in January 2007, as proof of the need for mandatory container weighing.

Proponents of mandatory weighing counter that critics have inflated the extra costs and point to how the longstanding U.S. rule has improved safety without reducing supply chain efficiency. The IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee in May approved changes to SOLAS chapter VI and has formally set the rule to take effect.

Detractor’s feel that this is not a cost and time effective measure and it may result in delay to vessels so is not an optimal solution in the light of cost/benefit analysis. However, in the interest of safety we need to accept the practical difficulty and delays if any.

Weighing the loaded containers is the "gold standard" but the compromise is to allow verified weighing of all the individual items loaded into the container, including pallets and packing materials, and adding it to the weight of the shipping container itself.

In other words, if the loaded shipping container cannot be weighed, shippers are allowed to get the weight with the formula of Goods + Dunnage + Tare = Container Weight.

On the whole, weighing of containers is proven beneficial for the shipping industry as it minimizes the chances of over loading, damaging the structure and affecting the stability of the vessel.