New SOLAS Amendment Regarding Mandatory Container Weighing

As of July 1, the signatory states of SOLAS, among which is Argentina, will be obligated to comply with this new provision. To this end, the Argentine Coast Guard (as the convention’s organ of application) has issued Resolutions 1/2016 and 18/2016, which regulate this situation.

The objective of this measure is to improve the safety of ships, workers and cargo; in short it seeks to improve the overall safety of navigation, as it ensures that the stability calculations and structural strength of the ship are calculated based on the actual weight of the load to stow. The scope of the amendment includes all containers intended to be stowed on board a vessel that is governed by the provisions of SOLAS.

In the first place it establishes that a full container cannot be loaded if its VGM is not stated. The party responsible for declaring the weight of the containers will be the shipper of the cargo, which the new provision defines it as "a legal entity or person named on the bill of lading or sea waybill or equivalent multimodal transport document (e.g. "through" bill of lading) as shipper and/or who (or in whose name or on whose behalf) a contract of carriage has been concluded with a shipping company.”

The information will be recorded in the cargo documentation and, although no deadline for submission is established, shall be delivered in time for that data to be used for the preparation and planning of vessel stow operations. Should the shipper fail to comply with this procedure, the master may refuse to load the container. The master may also refuse to load containers whose VGM exceeds the maximum limit.

Moreover, in cases where there is sufficient cause to question the veracity of the declared VGM, the container may be weighed in the port terminal. A margin of tolerance of +/- 5% between both values is allowed for.

The Coast Guard will monitor the actual implementation of the provision through inspections at port terminals as well as shippers and shipping companies.