To Our Valued Customer,

Subject: The SOLAS Container Weight Verification Requirement.

Please be advised that the SOLAS CONTAINER WEIGHT VERIFICATON REQUIREMENT will become legally effective on July 1, 2016.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has amended the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) to require, as a condition for loading a packed container onto a ship for export, that the container has a verified weight. This requirement will apply globally. Shippers, freight forwarders, vessel operators, and terminal operators will all need to establish policies and procedures to ensure the implementation of this regulatory change.

Basic Principles under the SOLAS Requirement:

1. Before a packed container can be loaded onto a ship, its weight must be determined through weighing. It is a violation of SOLAS to load a packed container aboard a vessel to which SOLAS applies without a proper weight verification. There is no exception to this requirement

2. Under the SOLAS amendments, there are two permissible methods for weighing: Method 1, which requires weighing the container after it has been packed, or Method 2, which requires weighing all the cargo and contents of the container and adding those weights to the container’s tare weight as indicated on the door end of the container .

3. Estimating weight is not permitted.

4. It is important to note that, for the shipper’s weight verification to be compliant with the SOLAS requirement, it must be “signed”, meaning a specific person representing the shipper is named and identified as having verified the accuracy of the weight calculation on behalf of the shipper

5. In the absence of a shipper providing a verified gross mass of a packed container, that container “shall not be loaded on to the ship”.

6. Containers exceeding the maximum payload indicated on the Safety Approval Plate and which are subject to the International Convention for Safe Containers (CSC) may not be loaded onto the vessel.

SGL is closely monitoring this situation and will continue to update our Customers and keep them abreast of any changes. Any questions or should you need additional information, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Regards,

Barbara Pupa

VP, International Logistics Operations