Exporters Wary as Shipping Safety Rule Kicks In
Starting Friday, exporters will need to weigh containers before they’re loaded onto ships, a requirement some say will lead to delays at ports around the world.
Shippers fear the implementation of new container-weighing rules will have a rocky implementation at ports around the world. PHOTO: EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY
Shippers worldwide say they’re bracing for delays at major ports starting Friday, when a new rule meant to improve safety on cargo ships kicks in.
The rule requires exporters in over 170 countries to report the weight of shipping containers before they’re loaded onto vessels. The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization, which regulates international shipping, says the rule will prevent accidents at ports and at sea caused by overloaded containers.
Shippers from Los Angeles to Hong Kong say procedures for transmitting container weight data to shipping lines vary from port to port, and in many cases haven’t been tested. They worry their cargo will be turned away for failing to comply with the new rules, or that confusion over the process could jam up the lines of trucks that move containers into terminals.
Some terminal operators, including at the busy ports of Hong Kong and Charleston, S.C., say they will provide weighing services to shippers, easing concerns about potential delays. However, others have said they will not assist with weighing. In some ports, including Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., the busiest in the U.S., policies can vary from terminal to terminal. Port trucking companies, which wait in long lines to haul containers into marine terminals to be loaded onto ships, have said this makes it difficult to know what is going to happen on Friday.
“It’s a good law, but it would be nice for someone to give us some guidance,” said Shane VanDerWaag, director of intermodal services at The Dependable Companies, a transportation and logistics provider that exports about 800 containers per month from Southern California. “We’re going to take a shot, go down there, and hopefully when we get to the terminals they’ll let us in.”
He said his company has warned cargo owners that they face penalties if containers are rejected for failing to comply with the new rules.
John Cushing, president of PierPass Inc., a non-profit multi-terminal group in Los Angeles and Long Beach, said Thursday that terminal operators at the ports do not plan to turn trucks away at the their gates. Other procedural details, however, will be at the discretion of carriers and individual operators.
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Ocean carrier industry groups say the rule is necessary because of a series of high-profile incidents where too-heavy containers caused ships to capsize. The IMO adopted the rule as an amendment to the Safety of Life at Sea Convention, known as SOLAS, in 2014, but many shippers only became aware they were responsible for weighing containers in late 2015.
The IMO has urged leniency in the first three months after the rule takes effect to ensure global trade does not grind to a halt. And many ports, including export terminals in the U.S., Hong Kong and the U.K. have said in recent months they plan to weigh containers for shippers, usually for a fee.
Still, some hiccups are to be expected early on, said John Butler, president and CEO of the World Shipping Council, which represents ocean carriers.
“Any time you flip the switch and start running the machine, things break,” he said.
In China, the origin of most U.S.-bound shipping containers, many freight forwarders and trucking companies have issued notices saying they won’t be responsible for added charges resulting from problems with weight reporting, Cai Jiaxiang, vice president of the China Shippers’ Association said.
Disruptions in the loading of containers will slow logistics operations down, he said. It would also add to costs—for example, a missed sailing would require additional storage space, which would be charged shippers.
Authorities at China’s Port of Shenzhen plan to randomly check reported weights for containers, and will charge 630 yuan ($95) per container that is randomly picked for screening, in addition to the average port handling charge of 850 yuan ($128), Mr. Cai said.
As for other countries, “the majority of IMO member nations haven’t issued any kind of guidance or regulation,” said Jonathan Gold, vice president for supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation, which represents U.S. retailers who collectively import from more than 45 countries. “There’s still a lot of uncertainty as to what exactly is going to happen.”
Some global terminal operators, including Dubai-based DP World and APM Terminals, a subsidiary of AP Moller-Maersk, have said they’ll help with weighing at some of their properties.
In the U.S., authorities at the ports of Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., have said they will offer weighing services. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which previously said it would not be able to do so, said this week that terminals have decided to provide scales for containers arriving without VGM, and reserve the right to charge $10 to ocean carriers for the service.
