Asian and European shippers call for rejection of IMO proposals

Monday, 16 September 2013 00:15 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

At the next IMO in London on September 16‐20, the Sub‐Committee on Dangerous Goods, Solid cargoes and Containers will be considering whether to press ahead with mandatory weighing and verification of containers prior to shipment. Members of ASC and ESC, which jointly represent 75% of the World Container Trade1, call on the parties taking part in the decision making process at the IMO to reject these proposals calling for amendments of SOLAS regulation VI/2 and SOLAS regulation VI/5.5. The proposals are made without proper analysis being carried out, including a possible impact assessment. 100% checks are not feasible in practice and will not address the root causes of the accidents at sea. Making weight verification mandatory will merely add to the costs, resulting in undue delays in the supply chain without significantly decreasing the risk of occurrence of such accidents. We ask the IMO to analyse the existing supply chain, identify what should and could easily be done to improve the existing system in order to reduce the number of misdeclarations of container weight, instead of merely increasing the legislative and administrative burden.

We believe that better communication amongst the different players in the supply chain, a clear deadline, improved IT capability at major gateways, increased use of intelligence to match the actual weight and the declaration would make an immediate difference to reducing the number of misdeclarations of containers blamed for some high profile accidents. The worldwide shippers’ and shipping communities are vast and varied, with different levels of maturity.

A one size fits all solution now being discussed at the IMO is not only ineffective, it may even be detrimental to international trade and shipping. The Asian Shippers’ Council (ASC) was formed on 13 September 2004 to integrate shippers’ councils in Asia into a single entity to protect and promote the collective interests of Asian Shippers. It consists of 19 shippers’ councils from 16 countries, including Korea, China, Hong Kong,

Macau, Taiwan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, with affiliate shippers’ councils in Africa.

The European Shippers’ Council (the ESC) represents cargo owners i.e. freight transport interests (import and export and intra‐continental, by all modes of transport) of some 100,000 companies throughout Europe, whether manufacturers, retailers or wholesalers, which are collectively referred to as “shippers”. ESC, based in Brussels, was founded in 1963.