A new regulation requiring the gross mass of a container to be verified before it is loaded onto a ship enters into force today, July 1, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) said.
The regulation will assist in ensuring that the millions of containers carried on ships each year are optimally stowed, thereby helping to prevent container stacks collapsing and containers being lost overboard, and the associated injury and loss of life.
In 2011, IMO began to develop measures to prevent the loss of containers, in response to concerns expressed by Member States and the shipping industry following a number of incidents involving loss of containers and container ships.
The aim was to develop further measures to complement the existing provisions aimed at the stability and safe operation of ships, including the safe packing, handling and transport of containers.
According to the amendments to SOLAS regulation VI/2, now in force, either of two methods can be used to verify the gross mass of packed containers. One method is weighing the packed container using calibrated and certified equipment; and the other is weighing all packages and cargo items, including the mass of pallets, dunnage and other securing material to be packed in the container and adding the tare mass of the container to the sum of the single masses, using a certified method approved by the competent authority of the State in which packing of the container was completed.
In May, IMO Member States agreed that Administrations and port State control authorities should adopt a practical and pragmatic approach when verifying compliance during the first three months following entry into force of the new requirement, with a view to permitting packed containers which were loaded prior to July 1 to be shipped to their final port of discharge without verified gross mass information.
In a separate announcement, IMO said that a new regulation aimed at protecting seafarers who need to enter enclosed spaces, by requiring ships to carry portable atmosphere testing equipment on board, also enters into force today.