SOLAS NEW REGULATIONS 2016

• To improve safety in the supply chain, the International Maritime

Organization (IMO) has made amendments to the Safety of Life at
Sea (SOLAS) convention indicating that all shippers must comply
with mandatory container weight verification requirements, or
Verified Gross Mass (VGM), effective July 1, 2016.

• This applies to all packed containers which are to be loaded on

to a vessel under the SOLAS regime in international maritime
traffic.
VERIFIED GROSS MASS (VGM)
• VGM is the total gross mass of a packed container which
includes the cargo weight, block & bracing materials and
container tare. The SOLAS Convention offers two methods
to obtain the VGM.

• “No VGM, No loading.” A container without a VGM is not

allowed to load onto the vessel. The shipper is responsible
for the potential regulatory penalties and all costs
associated to the exception handling of the containers
without the VGM.
 EFFECT AFTER SOLAS
IMPLEMENTATION
• 1 Year later,

- SOLAS requirement that shippers provide the verified gross mass

(VGM) of each container before it could be loaded onto a vessel.
- But doubts on the accuracy of declarations remains linger.

• Fears were generally unfounded that the International Maritime

Organization's (IMO's) rule, which took effect July 1, which :
- Disrupt port
- Increase congestion
- Raise the cost of moving cargo
- Result in containers left behind on docks as shippers struggled to
provide the correct information
 PSC (PORT STATE CONTROL)
Introduction
• PSC is the inspection of foreign ships in national ports to verify
that the condition of the ship

• In order to ensure that the condition of foreign ships is well above

the excepted level, inspections are done on the ships when they
visit international ports

• The regulation of port state contro! was brought in by the

formation of Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which
also put forth the general criteria for inspection procedures of all
types of ships
 BACKGROUND OF PSC
• 1978, a number of European countries agreed in The Hague on a memorandum
for the audit of labor conditions on board vessels as to whether they were in
accordance with the rules of the ILO.

• After the Amoco Cadiz sank that year, it was decided to also audit safety and
pollution practices.

• To this end, in 1982 14 European countries agreed on the Paris Memorandum

of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MoU) to establish port state
control.

• Nowadays 26 European countries and Canada are signatories of Paris MoU

 SOME GENERAL RULES FOR THE
INSPECTION OF FOREIGN VESSELS THAT
STATED BY MOU
• Inspection would be carried out on ships coming to a port for the
first time or after an absence of 12 months of more

• Inspection would be carried out of ships which have been permitted

to leave the port of a state with deficiencies to be rectified

• Ships whose certificates are not in order would because inspected

BASIC PRINCIPLE OF PORT
STATE CONTROL
• Inspections are generally unannounced.

• The prime responsibility for the compliance with the

requirements laid down in the international maritime conventions
lies with the ship-owner/operator; responsibility for ensuring
such compliance remains with the flag State
SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WERE
CHECKED DURING PSC
•
INSPECTION
Cargo Record Book

• Oil Record Book

• International tonnage certificate + Medical fitness

certificate

• Fire control and safety plan

• Engine room and deck log book

 DETENTION

• When the ship is found to be dangerously unsafe to the safety

of the ship, its crew and to marine environment.

• When the condition and standard of the ship is incomplete

contravention with the regulations put forth by the IMO and
other maritime authorities
 CONCLUSION
• SOLAS really help when the ship is under construction and
also when the ship performs the task.

• SOLAS was not made to give obstacles to ship industries, but

the rules was made to help and improve it.