Container Weighing
Overweight containers played a key role in the breakup and beaching of the MSC Napoli in the United Kingdom in 2007, along with the capsizing of the Daneb, a 500-TEU feeder ship, in the Spanish port of Algeciras in June 2011.
New IMO regulations requiring verification of a freight container’s gross mass became mandatory from 1 July 2016.
Under new amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), the IMO has agreed on two methods for a freight container’s gross mass verification.
Method 1: Weigh the container and its contents on a calibrated and certified instrument such as a weighbridge or other piece of suitable equipment.
Method 2: Weigh all of the cargo items being packed into the container along with dunnage, securing and lashing materials and the tare weight of the container and aggregate them together to arrive at an aggregated weight.
