Terminal operators to begin weighing services

West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) and The APM Terminals Apapa Ltd are to provide weighing services to exporters. They have installed controls to ensure containers loaded with a shipping line for export have valid Verified Gross Mass (VGM).

This is contained in a statement by the General Manager, Communication & Sustainability, APM Terminals, Nigeria, Mr Augustine Fischer. The statement said that the new measure was in accordance with the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Safety Of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Regulations.

According to the statement, APM Terminals has established SOLAS compliant Electronic Data Interchange capabilities with the shipping lines in Nigeria to share VGM information prior to vessel loading planning.

“The firm also has its weighing instruments verified by the Department of Weights and Measures of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.

“In 2014, the International Maritime organisation (IMO), the agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating international seaborne trade, approved amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea Convention which as of July 1,2016, will require verification and documentation of loaded containers before they can be loaded onto vessels.

“ This can be accomplished by either weighing the loaded container with calibrated and certified equipment or weighing the cargo prior to loading and adding it to the tare weight of the empty container.

The purpose of the VGM regulations is to assure safety of the vessel, as well as dockworkers and other cargo handlers by preventing overweight or otherwise misrepresented containers from jeopardising shipments or container movements,’’ Fischer said in the statement.