25 April 2016 12:00 am
Effective July 1, 2016, any shipping container leaving any port in the world must be accompanied by a shipping document signed either electronically or in hard copy by the shipper on the bill of lading listing the verified gross mass of a container in order to be loaded onto a ship.
The container weight mandate from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) under the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention comes after misdeclared weights contributed to maritime casualties such as the breakup and subsequent beaching of the MSC Napoli on the southern UK coast in 2007 and the partial capsizing of a feeder ship in the Spanish port of Algeciras in June 2015.
It will be less than three months before regulations on the mandatory weighing of containers in the supply chain come into force. The objective of the IMO is simple and it is to have the verified container weight before the container is loaded on to the vessel. However, in such close proximity to the new legislation being implemented, more accurate details are needed about how this will work in practice and ensure a smooth transition of this new legislation.
At the Shippers’ Academy Colombo (SAC) seminar - ‘Container Weight Verification: Are We Ready For Operational Aspects?’ - experts will help delegates navigate through these complicated regulations that will affect the whole industry and provide unmatchable advice on SOLAS Chapter V1 Part A, Regulation 2 amendment which takes effect on July 1, 2016 in 170 counties around
the world.
The seminar will be held at the Sri Lanka Foundation on April 28, 2016 from 3:00 p.m. onwards. You may register by visiting www.shippersacademy.lk and filling the form or tel: 0773820703/ 0113560844, email: enquiries@shippersacademy.lk, fax: 0112874065/ 0112472535. Tickets are available at SAC office at No: 105, Hunupitiya Lake Road, Colombo 02.