With the new laws regarding road transportation due to take effect next month, EES Shipping would like to share with you the problems resulting from mis-declaring container weights.
- Incorrect stowage decisions
- Re-stowage of containers (and resulting delays and costs), if the overweight condition is discovered
- Collapsed container stacks
- Containers lost overboard (both those overweight and containers that were not overweight)
- Cargo liability claims
- Chassis damage
- Damage to ships
- Stability and stress risks for ships
- Risk of personal injury or death to seafarers and landside workers
- Impairment of service schedule integrity
- Supply chain service delays for shippers of properly declared containers
- Last minute shut-outs of confirmed, booked and available loads when the actual weight on board exceeds what is declared, and the total cargo weight exceeds the vessel limit or port draft limit
- Lost revenue and earnings
- Liability for accidents and fines for overweight containers on roads, and resulting time and administrative efforts and costs to see reimbursement from responsible parties
- Impairment of vessels’ optimal trim and draft, thus causing impaired vessel efficiency, sub-optimal fuel usage, and greater vessel air emissions
- Mis-declared weights can also deprive countries of dutiable revenues in cases where duties or tariffs are applied on the weight measurement of a commodity
Source: The Lloyd’s List Australia – a special report on the problems with overweight containers and how it seriously effects the shipping industry.
