Weight misdeclarations continue to bug shipping lines

Alan Peat
THE FREQUENCY of overloading (more exactly under-declaring the weight of) containers is still a major problem for shipping lines despite a concerted effort last year to change what Safmarine marketing manager Keith Lee Shew described as "the market place culture" of misdeclaration.
While things have improved since the lines concurrently slapped a penalty fine on misdeclared container weights last August, it's not by much, he said.
"We've seen a slight improvement in the declaration of weight," he added. "But far too many are still misdeclaring - probably more through ignorance than deliberate intent."
It's a big worry for shipping lines. Lee Shew pointed to one recent testing
session at a weighbridge in Durban, where 42 boxes were found to be underdeclared to a total of 220 tons - and
the truckers done for overloading.
"But just imagine what happens when this sort of misdeclaration refers to 3 000 boxes on a ship," he said. "We want shippers to understand what all the serious implications are."
But, while the fine has been there for a year, the means of testing box weights has not.
The weighbridge at City Deep has nailed a few transgressors and passed on an effective warning, said Lee Shew. But, he added, while there are weighbridges at the ports of Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban, they are currently inoperative.
"We are presently working with the authorities to try to get these units up and running again," said Lee Shew. "Once that happens, we will have a true means of wielding a financial baton at shippers who are unable to fill in the forms accurately."
Maybe that will work, he added. The persuasive approach certainly doesn't.