Carriers Flexible in SOLAS VGM Implementation; FMC Working to Prevent Excessive Port Fees, Chairman Says
The Federal Maritime Commission is working to ensure marine terminal operators don’t charge extra for weighing services provided for verified gross mass (VGM) documentation submitted with shipments to ocean carriers, but carriers have maintained regular cargo movements even when they receive inaccurate or late VGM information, officials said during a conference Sept. 12. Since VGM amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention took effect July 1, carriers have been flexible with regard to the VGM paperwork they accept, said Jan Fields of John S. James Company in an interview at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference. “That’s the bottom line,” she said, adding that she expects carriers will take the same perspective and approach moving forward.
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The International Maritime Organization urged a “practical and pragmatic approach” for providing VGMs for the first three months of the requirement’s implementation (see 1607010041), and World Shipping Council CEO John Butler earlier this summer said the existence of multiple options for complying with coming container weight verification requirements will help to avoid shipping delays (see 1606200004). IMO’s and WSC’s guidance followed several months of a lack of consensus on the VGM amendment issue among shippers, carriers and port terminals. “That is a non-issue at this point,” NCBFAA Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier Subcommittee Chairman Rich Roche said.
While VGMs are being submitted to carriers, if a container doesn’t come with a documented VGM, carriers are often allowing email or Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) submissions, Fields said, adding that it is a much more adaptive approach than what trade expected during the spring. “The collaboration has gone very well subsequent” to ocean carriers’ announcement in June that they would accept VGMs as determined by marine terminal scales (see 1606300033), FMC Chairman Mario Cordero said. “And I think we have a good working group on the issue. Now, let me make something clear. I’m not saying that the [marine terminal operators (MTOs)] work for free.” Cordero said he suggested to marine terminal personnel that the container weighing that ports do for storage documentation and Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements could also count toward satisfying SOLAS VGM documentation requirements. “If we’re already doing the service, why do you think we kind of have to reinvent this again and charge for a service that’s already in place?” Cordero said. “That’s the issue.”
Cordero pointed to port chassis charges of $10 per container as excessive fees. Officially, ports collect the fees in exchange for providing shippers with EDI information, but ports already were providing that information prior to the advent of those assessments, Cordero said, indicating he would work to safeguard VGM requirements from a similar fate. “If you have some new type of service; if you tell me there’s a 24/7 gate; if you tell me those gates are going to be open until 2 in the morning, and you’re ready to receive cargo, I have no problem with you raising the traffic … fee,” Cordero said. “But don’t do something on top of something that’s already been provided. Because that’s just not right.” Cordero also pleaded for more funding for FMC, mentioning that he visited a large port to learn more about VGM implementation, at his own expense.