NEW YORK – The International Maritime Organization is being urged to establish an international rule that all loaded containers be weighed at the port facility before they are loaded aboard a vessel.

The World Shipping Council and the International Chamber of Shipping are two organizations lobbying for the change.

“The issue of overweight containers has been a subject of industry, insurance, and at times government, concern over the years, and has from time-to-time become an issue of concern to the general public after incidents involving overweight boxes," the groups said in a joint statement.
They cite a recent Maritime Research Institute guidelines that called for compulsory weighing of containers to ensure that the correct weight is declared to the carrier and prevent the collapsing container stacks.

Without a legal requirement, the groups concluded, many containers will continue to go un-weighed, which "will continue to pose a risk to workers, industry operations, ships, properly declared cargoes."

Reportedly, it’s not uncommon for the actual cargo weight aboard ship to be as much as 7 percent greater than the declared weight.