Congress Could Take SOLAS Action, as Shippers/Carriers Try to Find Common VGM Ground
Congressional "initiatives" on controversial container weight verification requirements may expand in “coming days” on "behalf" of U.S. exporters, the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) said in a May 17 position paper (here). Meanwhile, exporters and carriers are discussing a better method for getting verified gross mass information to terminals than the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association’s (OCEMA’s) “Best Practices” model (see 1603220018). The alternative means under discussion for sending VGMs to marine terminals “may become better known in coming days/weeks,” AgTC said. Congressional officials didn't comment.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
While OCEMA has stated that it will no longer hold shippers responsible for divergences between published container tare weights and a container’s true weight, AgTC continues to be concerned with differences in interpretation of the VGM rule. It's in the carriers' best interest to "partner with their customers," said AgTC. “Like the ports which stepped forward in the last two weeks, the carriers which step forward will get the cargo,” AgTC said. The coalition also lauded efforts of the Ports of Charleston, S.C., Savannah, Ga., and Virginia, which have offered to weigh loaded containers and provide the accurate VGM to all involved parties, so that exporters don’t have to verify to the carrier how much “the carrier’s own container weighs.” Four more East Coast ports are considering doing the same, the trade group said.