One week after the implementation of the new SOLAS regulation ‘Verified Gross Mass’ (VGM), MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company confirms an outstanding early experience of compliance rates by shippers.
MSC France, which covers seven ports in the French Metropolitan area, saw a 100% verified record on all its initial sailings under the new jurisdiction.
Of 627 containers loaded on 1st July, every single one was found to be fully VGM ready and compliant.
In the days immediately after VGM coming into effect – from 2nd until 6th July – a total of 2,891 containers were loaded by MSC France, and every one of these was VGM compliant.
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company also identifies a high statistic of customers uploading VGM through their designated portal, myMSC.com, as opposed to other reporting methods.
Philippe Lestrade, Managing Director of MSC France, said: “We are really pleased with our early record for VGM compliance, and encouraged that clearly our customers have responded well to our communications about the impending regulation.
“This is a challenging time for the industry and our expectation was that perhaps we would see rates of anywhere between 50 and 80% compliance on initial sailings – so this is a superb result.”
Lestrade added: “VGM brings clarity for all parties in the supply chain and ensures improvement in safety, as well as better efficiency around handling of containers and release of cargo.
“We have been working hard to support our customers with the implementation of SOLAS VGM, investing in our eCommerce, which allows customers to have an easy method of communicating their ‘VGM’ to MSC.”