How much does a container weigh?
Thomas Aas
Maritime & Energy Marketing Lead at Zenitel | Driving Marketing Strategy for Growth
On 1 July 2016, new requirements to verify the gross mass of a packed container enter into force under SOLAS. The requirements, in the form of an IMO Marine Safety Committee circular, gives advice to Administrations, port State control authorities, companies, port terminals and ship’s masters.
Seagull marketing - 2016
While there has always been a requirement in SOLAS to declare the gross mass of cargo and containers, the new requirement adds an extra level of monitoring to verify the declared mass. This is to ensure that it is a true reflection of the gross mass of the packed container and thereby avoid problems such as stability issues, injury, cargo damage, handling difficulties and loss of containers.
The regulation allows for two methods to verify the gross mass of packed containers:
? Weighing the packed container using calibrated and certified equipment; or
? Weighing all items, including pallets, dunnage and other securing material to be packed in the container and adding their mass to the tare mass of the container itself to achieve a total.
Such measurement will be by a certified method approved by the competent authority of the State in which packing of the container was completed. This second method will not be practical for shippers of bulk commodities such as iron ore, grain, etc. A packed container, for which the verified gross mass has not been obtained sufficiently in advance to be used in the ship stowage plan, will be denied loading onto a ship to which the SOLAS regulations apply. As with other SOLAS provisions, the enforcement of the requirements regarding the verified gross mass of packed containers is the responsibility of the SOLAS Contracting Governments. Any incidence of non-compliance with the SOLAS requirements is enforceable according to national legislation.
Contact your national maritime administration for specific advice and guidance.
Source: IMO (International Maritime Organisation) Media Centre, https://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/HotTopics/container/Pages/default.aspx