DP World's head of European and Russian operations, Ganesh Raj, has come out in favour of mandatory weighing of containers before shipboard loading, adding that ports are best placed to do the job, according to Shipping Gazette.
"Our approach is that we are more than happy to weigh containers as long as it does not impact on operations," said Mr Raj, DP World senior vice president.
Mr Raj warned that the compromise solution designed to make mandatory container weight checks easier by providing a choice of methods may complicate the process.
He told Lloyd's List he was concerned that offering a choice is creating confusion, and that it would have been simpler to have a uniform single approach with all containers checked the same way.
If terminals must weigh containers, there would be a cost attached to weighbridges, whereas the alternative of certified container weights provided by shippers could pose problems for automated facilities, he said.
London Gateway, which has no gate clerks and Rotterdam's soon-to-open World Gateway will be completely unmanned These are examples of where physical checks of weight certificates could be more of a problem than weighbridges.
Weight checks will be compulsory from mid-2016 under amendments to the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) Safety of Life at Sea Convention agreed last year.
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