News / DCSA unveils unified API for real-time container VGM data exchange

Many players across the container supply chain “intend to move quickly” to adopt the Digital Container Shipping Association’s (DCSA) new API-based standard for verified gross mass (VGM) exchange.

While the IMO’s SOLAS Convention has required every container to have a VGM before loading since 2016, that data is communicated through a “patchwork of emails, spreadsheets, carrier portals and EDI messages”, which, according to the DCSA, all use different formats and validation rules.

“The process is fragmented and often handled through bespoke connections or manual steps,” a spokesperson told The Loadstar. “A standardised API reduces that friction.”

They explained that a unified API [application programming interface] for real-time VGM submission would result in quicker transmission, fewer errors, and clearer handovers between shippers, forwarders, terminals, carriers and intermediaries.

Yesterday, the association introduced such a unified API for “real-time submission, validation, and exchange of verified container weight information across shippers, carriers, terminals and other parties involved”.

The spokesperson said: “The interest has been strong from the outset… many have told us they intend to move quickly,” and added that shippers, retailers and manufacturers had been “waiting for a standardised way to exchange VGM data” and have signalled that they intend to adopt the new VGM standard.

On the carrier side, the DCSA told The Loadstar several of its members would begin piloting the system with their customers from January. Liner members include Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, MSC, ONE, CMA CGM, Evergreen, HMM, Yang Ming, PIL and Zim.

“The early signals from carriers and cargo owners combined with the breadth of parties involved in VGM exchanges make us optimistic that adoption will build at a steady pace across the ecosystem,” said the spokesperson.

“The VGM standard is a logical continuation of the work they have already done with DCSA’s booking standard and other DCSA APIs. It closes a gap that currently forces them into parallel EDI or manual processes.”

And, according to the DCSA, the new standard is “open source”, and designed so that any organisation can make use of it, meaning companies don’t need extensive digital competency to adopt.

“The VGM standard follows the same model as our other data-exchange standards, so anyone familiar with API integration will find it straightforward,” they explained.

Further, they added, the new model was designed to accommodate “every type of actor”, so large carriers and digital platforms can integrate directly, and shippers and manufacturers with their own IT teams can do the same.

The spokesperson explained: “Parties with lighter digital setups, such as inland weighing facilities, usually connect through the technology providers they already rely on. Those providers can implement the standard on their behalf, so even the less digitally mature players are not excluded or forced into parallel processes.”