The APM Terminals Apapa Limited and West Africa Container Terminal have created controls to ensure that containers loaded with shipping line for export have valid Verified Gross Mass (VGM), in line with the prescription of the International Maritime Organization’s Safety Of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Regulations.
The APM Terminals General Manager, Communication & Sustainability, Augustine Fischer confirmed this in Lagos, highlighting the benefits of SOLAS compliant Electronic Data Interchange capabilities which the company has established with the shipping lines in Nigeria to share VGM information prior to vessel loading planning.
APM Terminals Head of Global Operations, Jack Craig stressed that the first priority of the company was to ensure safe and efficient operations for the supply chain.
He added that, “it is crucial that these regulations are met in a way which does not create congestion bottlenecks that ultimately impose additional risk and cost for all stakeholders”
According to him, the APM Terminals has also had its weighing instruments verified by the department of weights and measures of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.
He explained that export containers which however arrive at APM Terminal facilities without a valid VGM will be generally accepted, but being ineligible to load on a vessel, may be segregated and subject to additional re-handling and storage requirements.
In 2014, the International Maritime organization (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 1st July 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 jeopardizing shipments or container movements.
