Vietnam Introduces Container Weighing Rules

Overweight containers are a serious issue for the industry, impacting crew, vessel and cargo safety. Some countries such as Vietnam are seeking to address the issue with domestic legislation.

Christian Ott, Vice President Head of Claims, at Skuld Singapore, with support from Total Marine Claims, has issued an advisory note saying that following repeat concerns with respect to containers having been found to be overweight when presented for shipment, the Vietnamese Government enacted a new law in 2014 which limited the total weight of 20 and 40 feet boxes to no more than 20 metric tons, including the weight of the container itself. The limit applies to containers for both road an sea transport.

Weighbridges have been installed at Vietnamese ports, container yards and even highways to monitor weights of containers for the purpose of enforcement of the new law which applies to both export and import shipments.

Containers found to violate the weight limits may lead to fines for the trucks carrying them, and at ports and container yards boxes have been unstuffed and re-loaded in to more boxes where they have been found to be too heavy.

Early indications are that there is a rigorous enforcement of the new rules, and as such they present a welcome development towards the safety of shipments for the benefit of crews, vessels and the cargo laden on board, says Ott.

The Association has previously advised on the new SOLAS amendments which will come in to force in 2016. In the meantime, vessels should (despite the known time pressures) seek to ensure they have proper cargo declarations and manifests supplied in advance of loading so that it can be planned and executed safely, says Ott. That means ensuring both weights, and contents are duly declared and taken in to account when the stowage plan is prepared and reviewed.

Where vessels are seriously concerned about the safety of a particular box, it may be better - despite the risk of a dispute - not to load it and instead proceed with completing operations with the remainder of the scheduled cargo.

While an argument may ensue about the non-shipment of the box, given the need to get on with the job of shipping the rest of the load, this is the safer route to take, she says.

Should there be a serious concern over more than one box, i.e. a wider issue with a stowage plan proposed by shippers or issues arise during the cargo operation which give rise to safety concerns, then again it may be better to take the necessary remedial action there an then. 

Once a vessel is on the high seas it will be very difficult to deal with an overloaded stack that is in danger of collapsing (or has indeed collapsed). Given the time pressures and volume of cargo, masters and chief officers need good shore side support to enable them to check that the job is done properly and safely.

In case of urgent concerns, masters should not hesitate to contact the Association's local correspondents, says Ott.