Following a session in London the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) is to issue a circular calling for “practical and pragmatic” enforcement of the VGM requirement for three months after 1 July.
The International Maritime Organization Maritime Safety Committee has not yet issued its new circular, but the TT Club has put out a statement outlining its contents. Firstly, the IMO is not going to delay the 1 July date for implementing the SOLAS amendment that will require containers to have a Verified Gross Mass (VGM) before loading on a SOLAS vessel. It is, however, calling for a three month settling in period to address concerns over transhipment containers loaded at a port before 1 July, and “the probability of ‘teething’ problems in documenting, communicating and sharing VGM information”.
On the issue of transhipment containers loaded initially before 1 July that do not have a VGM, the IMO has advised that these will not require a VGM for subsequent transhipment after that date.
Overall, however, it is clear that there are going to be more than teething problems in some locations that have done little to prepare for VGM, as TT Club itself notes: “Like many others in the industry, we have been disturbed by the apparent confusion over how shippers will comply with the amendment to the Convention on Safety of Lives at Sea (SOLAS), making it mandatory for all packed containers to obtain and communicate the Verified Gross Mass (VGM) as a precondition to loading onto a ship”, says TT Club’s Risk Management Director, Peregrine Storrs-Fox.
“Moreover we have been particularly concerned about the patchy guidance given by national authorities to assist shippers and operators in minimising expense, delays and errors in complying with the regulation. This clarifying statement from the IMO is therefore welcome”, he said.
There is a very real risk, however, that some jurisdictions will treat the IMO’s most recent advice as a three month grace period, but this is not what IMO intends. Explaining its approach further, Storrs-Fox said: “There are no doubt still a number of grey areas. In order to give time for these to be resolved the IMO’s intent is that any party who has done its level best to comply, even if it has not technically fulfilled the letter of the law, may expect to be treated with understanding. Those, however who have done little or nothing can expect to be penalised”.
This may be the IMO’s intent, but where national authorities have yet to issue their own guidance, or even establish an enforcement mechanism, penalties seem somewhat unlikely.
The bigger challenge for the IMO may be to ensure that it continues to register as an important organisation at the national transport policy level of its member states. If anything the situation surrounding the VGM issue highlights that SOLAS member states put very limited resources into IMO matters, and clearly did not expect the organisation to produce a regulation with such wide ranging impact.
Storrs-Fox is urging member states to actively address their SOLAS obligations and put the policy wheels in motion. “National governments, the signatories to SOLAS, need to engage closely with the container supply chain industry to assist shippers, terminal operators and ship masters in reaching compliance. Governments are also urged to liaise with each other to share best practice, towards which a number of key authorities have already made significant progress”.
To this end the industry needs to know who the authorities that have made good progress are, and what they have achieved. The four industry organisations (TT Club, World Shipping Council, ICHCA and Global Shippers’ Forum) that produced the ‘Industry FAQs’ in December 2015 are planning on issuing supplementary guidance in advance of 1st July.
Sources: http://www.worldcargonews.com/htm/w20160524.040726.htm
