Around 200 representatives of shippers, shipping agents, freight forwarders and terminal operators from the Marseille-Fos port community attended the VGM (Verified Gross Mass) information meetings held by MGI and UMF in late June and early July at the World Trade Center in Marseille.

UMF spoke on SOLAS regulations and their impact on logistics professionals. MGI presented the VGM function developed in AP+.

Since 1 July 2016, shippers or their representatives have been required to declare the weight of goods to the shipping carrier or agent, in accordance with the terms and conditions of their sales contract, prior to loading on board ship at the latest. Shipping companies use this information to draw up their loading plan and send it on to the terminal operator.

Using the VGM function in AP+, entitled Export Goods/Notification/Verified Gross Mass, VGM data can be sent via a transactional entry or VERMAS EDI message. Information is then automatically sent on to the shipping company and terminal.

Two weighing methods have been developed:

Weighing the full container using weighing scales
Adding up the weight of each container component: packages, pallets, blocking and chocking systems and the weight of the empty container.

If shippers or their representatives are unable to weigh the container, they may delegate weighing to the terminal, which has the required equipment. Nevertheless, shippers remain liable for weight declaration.

The terminals of Marseille Fos, Med Europe Terminal,  Eurofos and Seayard have communicated with the port community about their weighing service and have also published information on their website.

Find out more about the VGM function in AP+.