Effective 1 July 2016 Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) will require that shippers of a packed container provide its verified gross mass (VGM). Furthermore, it will be the shipper's responsibility to ensure that the accurate weight is being provided. If no Verified Gross Mass weight has been provided, the container will not be loaded on to the vessel. After July 1, 2016 it would be a violation of SOLAS to load a packed container onto a vessel if the vessel operator and marine terminal operator do not have a verified container weight.
Two permissible methods for weighing:
Method 1: Weigh the packed container.
Method 2: Weigh the cargo and other contents and add tare mass of the container.
For Nefab´s customers, the package design gives an exact weight of packaging and when adding it up with products exported this is the VGM that shippers accept by e-mail or via their portal.
If you have any questions regarding the SOLAS, please do not hesitate to contact us.