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US regulator urges carriers to accept port operator's figure as VGM
USING the container weight taken at the terminal gate as the verified gross mass (VGM) is a "simple and efficient solution to assure the continued flow of export cargoes", says Federal Maritime Commission chairman Mario Cordero.
Carriers should not only accept weights determined by terminal operators for complying with the UN's Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) amendment that mandates providing verified container weights, shipping lines should also streamline the transmission of the information he said.
"In the interest of furthering efficiencies, weights determined at terminal gates for the purposes of SOLAS VGM compliance should be transmitted directly from the terminal operator to the shipping line, and not provided to the shipper to then present to the carrier," Mr Cordero said.
"The quickest route between two points is a straight line and that applies to data flow as much as it does to navigation. It only makes sense to have a direct reporting of container weights from the terminal operator to the ocean carrier."
The US Coast Guard has already announced that "existing US laws and regulations for providing verified container weights are equivalent to the requirements in SOLAS."
"Why anyone would add procedures, requirements and costs to doing business is not only puzzling, it raises the spectre of anticompetitive behaviour and necessitating commission action," said Mr Cordero.
Carriers should not only accept weights determined by terminal operators for complying with the UN's Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) amendment that mandates providing verified container weights, shipping lines should also streamline the transmission of the information he said.
"In the interest of furthering efficiencies, weights determined at terminal gates for the purposes of SOLAS VGM compliance should be transmitted directly from the terminal operator to the shipping line, and not provided to the shipper to then present to the carrier," Mr Cordero said.
"The quickest route between two points is a straight line and that applies to data flow as much as it does to navigation. It only makes sense to have a direct reporting of container weights from the terminal operator to the ocean carrier."
The US Coast Guard has already announced that "existing US laws and regulations for providing verified container weights are equivalent to the requirements in SOLAS."
"Why anyone would add procedures, requirements and costs to doing business is not only puzzling, it raises the spectre of anticompetitive behaviour and necessitating commission action," said Mr Cordero.
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