Maritime cargo should be weighed from 2016

Daniel Bosch Wood

Maritim Lawyer

LLM Southampton

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is considering making changes to the legislation and, consequently, maritime cargo should be weighed as of July 1, 2016, if the regulations are approved.

The aim of the legislative change is to limit ship loading and put an end to inaccurate weight declarations. Excess weight has been positioned as one of the first causes of accidents on container ships. The IMO wants to make sure that the vessels do not carry more than the permitted weight.

The regulations have not been definitively approved and the exact mechanism that the ports must use to verify the declared weights is not known. Some lobbies believe that the loaded container should be weighed, and others advocate the need to weigh the load and subsequently add the tare from the container.

Industry analysts believe that this measure could be counterproductive and lead to delays in loading and unloading goods. Port terminals that do not have weighing systems must purchase or transfer the load from the terminal to another place where it can be weighed.

Fraud in terms of weight and size of containers is not uncommon in the maritime cargo sector. In fact, entities such as ICC International Maritime Bureau have conducted investigations into container weight fraud.

Source: Loginews