FMC Approves VGM Agreement for Ocean Carriers, Eastern US Ports

The Federal Maritime Commission OK'd an agreement between the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association and six ports that would allow for the use of container weights determined at terminal gates to meet Verified Gross Mass requirements, the FMC said in a news release (here). The FMC also granted expedited review for the agreement to be effective ahead of the July 1 effective date for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention VGM requirements, it said. "Permitting this agreement to take effect as quickly as possible was in the best interests of all parties and I am pleased that the Commission was able to allow this agreement to go into force without requiring additional information," FMC Chairman Mario Cordero said. "The parties and Commission staff worked hard to come to consensus on how to best balance the desire to create this additional option for filing container weight information that would satisfy guidance issued by the US Coast Guard, with the need to tailor the agreement to the specific circumstances at hand." There's no reason to "not be flexible, practical, and pragmatic in providing ways to comply with these new obligations" and "I hope that other port authorities and terminal operators will be inspired to establish their own innovative processes to ease SOLAS VGM compliance," he said. The six ports -- South Carolina Ports Authority, Georgia Ports Authority, North Carolina State Ports Authority, the Port of Houston Authority, The Port of Virginia, and the Massachusetts Port Authority -- and OCEMA filed for FMC approval in May (see 1605200025).