Public Weighing

The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) is an international maritime treaty which sets minimum safety standards in the construction, equipment and operation of merchant ships.

In relation to the transportation of loaded containers by sea, the following are the key requirements of SOLAS:

• Effective July 2016, The International Maritime Organisation (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.
• The SOLAS amendments provide that there are two methods shippers may use to determine the container weight once the container packing process has taken place. This requirement applies globally.
• Therefore a packed container can only be loaded onto a ship, if its weight has been determined through weighing, using a verified trade approved weighing device. This process needs to take place before entering the Port.
• Two methods of weighing can be used:
  • Method I; which requires weighing the container after it has been packed, or
  • Method II; 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.
• Evidence of weighing under either Method I or Method II needs to be provided in the form of a Compliant SOLAS Weighing Ticket.
• All Sasco Pay & Weigh sites offer compliant weighing in accordance with Method I, and generate as proof of weighing Compliant SOLAS Weighing Tickets.
• For Transporters whose fleets are registered with Sasco Pay & Weigh, electronic copies of all SOLAS weighing tickets generated are transmitted to responsible officers designated by the Transporter.