DGS to come out with container weight verification norms soon

The Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) today said it will issue next week guidelines with respect to container weight verification.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has amended SOLAS that seeks verification of container weight and holds the shipper responsible for it effective July 1.
"We will be one of the first few countries on a task as daunting as this," DG Shipping, Deepak Shetty said at a conference organised by Mumbai and Nhava Sheva Ship Agents Association (MANSA) here.
The relevant file has come to his office and will be cleared by next Tuesday even though the country has time till July 1 to adopt the framework, a statement quoted Shetty as saying.

Post July 1, loading a container without verified container weight will be considered as a violation of (Safety of Life at Sea Convention) SOLAS by the vessel operator and marine terminal operator.
A number of laws have been repealed over the past two years and the proposed Merchant Shipping Bill is expected to simplify them further, Shetty said.

The Bill will rationalise the number of parts from 25 to 16, number of sections from 581 to 217, and is expected to be passed by March 2017, he said.
The Indian ports are three to five times more expensive than those in the developed countries, MANSA President Capt Vivek Anand said.

Implementation of port community system will bring in 60 per cent more efficiency and reduce logistics and transaction cost by 20-30 per cent, he added.