WASHINGTON: The Port of Charleston has scrapped plans to charge shippers for weighing containers amid other U.S. Southeast ports’ announcements that say they will help shippers meet the SOLAS container weight rule for free. The South Carolina Ports Authority — the first port to announce its plans to help shippers meet the rule that takes effect July 1 — said it has withdrawn its plans to charge shippers $25 per unit. The authority said the charge is no longer necessary and that it will send the verified gross mass declaration directly to liners so that shippers can meet the International Maritime Organization rule.
“This has been a long-accepted best practice in our port that has allowed the safe loading of vessels, and it should be continued in the overall interest of safety and efficiency,” Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the port authority, said in a statement.
Shippers can obtain a VGM in one of two ways, according to the IMO. Shippers may either weigh the container and its contents as one unit, which is known as Method 1, or weigh every item and its packaging in the container and add that figure to the tare, or empty weight of the box, which is called Method 2.
The U.S. Coast Guard has said there are multiple methods for U.S. industry to meet the rule, but other countries have not displayed such an interpretation of it. The Port of Virginia and state port authorities of Georgia and North Carolina earlier this month announced plans to offer free container weighing services to shippers. The Ports America terminal operator at the Port of Baltimore has said also it will offer the service, and a Newark terminal plans to charge shippers for the service.
