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A series of marine accidents along the Indian coast seems to have woken up the container shipping industry to tighten the screws on cargo misdeclarations.
Maersk has taken the lead on the crackdown, potentially prompting others to follow suit.
The Danish carrier has significantly raised the scale of fines for container weight misdeclaration, or VGM (verified gross mass) violations, beyond the permissible limits as per local regulatory guidelines.
Maersk has told Indian customers container loads now found with incorrect weight declarations would attract a penalty of $5,000 per box.
It has been charging a lower administrative fee for weight discrepancies since August 2019, the upward revision stemmed from growing ship safety concerns linked to shipper misdeclarations, the carrier said in a customer advisory.
For Indian trades, the national maritime administrator, Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping), had fixed the maximum deviation between the VGM of a container submitted by the shipper and its actual weight declared at the terminal at plus or minus 1,000 kg.
Maersk has also reiterated the supply chain risks linked to hazardous or dangerous goods misdeclarations, which it said would continue to attract hefty penal charges, in the range of $15,000 per container.
“These changes form part of our ongoing efforts to uphold international shipping standards and strengthen compliance in critical areas of cargo operations,” the liner said.
“Accurate declarations, especially for weight and hazardous/dangerous cargo, are essential to avoid incidents and to enable safe, efficient planning for loading, stowage and discharge,” it added.
While the hefty fines could prove a deterrent, it is, admittedly, a daunting task for ship operators to ensure the accuracy of shipment data supplied by cargo owners.
“These mistakes do not creep in unknowingly, so it’s a tough thing to fix the problem,” one industry observer told The Loadstar.
CMA CGM recently also told Indian customers container weight discrepancies had become widespread, warning: “It is imperative to understand that misdeclared weight shipments, in addition to being a safety hazard, necessitate extensive reworking procedures with the customs and regulatory requirements of the transhipment country, which can lead to substantial delays, potentially extending transit times by several weeks.”
Onboard fires have sparked even greater alarms among industry stakeholders in recent months, the 9 June blaze on Singapore-flagged Wan Hai 503 running for weeks, the most recent.
Taiwanese liner Wan Hai Lines is still searching for a ‘port of refuge’ to berth the fire-stricken vessel, the latest reports suggesting it’s making an effort with authorities at Jebel Ali port, following months of futile attempts in the India region, including Sri Lanka’s Colombo port. The 4,300-teu vessel was part of a four-carrier intra-Asia loop, including Hapag-Lloyd, Evergreen and Interasia Lines.
Other recent ship fire incidents include: Maersk Frankfurt, off the Indian coast in July 2024; MSC Capetown III, in August 2024 at Colombo; and YM Mobility, at Ningbo port in China, also in August last year.
In many onboard vessel explosion cases, misdeclared dangerous goods were thought to be the cause.
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