VGM stands for Verified Gross Mass. It is a new type of information about a container or, to be more precise, about the container weight, introduced worldwide on 1 July 2016 by the IMO under the SOLAS Convention. Without information about VGM, the container will not be loaded onto the ship.

01. by weighing a full and closed container (method 1),

02. by weighing the individual cargoes, including the weight of pallets, dunnage, other packaging or cargo securing materials and adding the tare weight of the container (method 2).

01. All information is provided by ship operators, e.g. on their websites;

02. The Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation has also prepared guides regarding VGM;

03. Information about certification of “method 2” of container weighing is provided by the Polish Register of Shipping.

Yes. Baltic Hub has legalised truck scales that fulfil the requirements of accuracy class III. Moreover, it is in constant contact with ship operators as regards the exchange of data on VGM. A scan of the scales legalisation certificate is published on Baltic Hub website.

It is the responsibility of the ship operator to whom the shipper or the freight forwarder acting on its behalf commissions the sea transport of the container. The communication between ship operators and Baltic Hub shall only take place in the form of electronic data exchange (EDI, COPRAR LOAD and COPARN).

Yes, but they will not be loaded onto a ship until VGM is provided by the ship operator or the container is weighed at Baltic Hub terminal.

It applies to exports and transshipment.

Method 1 (weighing a full container).

No. Baltic Hub will only do the weighing upon an order of the shipper or ship operator.

In principle – no, but such verification may take place in justified cases.

No.

Baltic Hub assumes that all containers will have VGM, due to the obligation under international law.

Next to the weight information.

On 1 July Baltic Hub Standard Tariff will be revised to make its provisions more precise. The weighing charges will be borne by the ordering party (ship operator or shipper) and any corrections to the weight information in the system will be at the expense of the shipping line (COD/COI – Change of Data / Change of Information).

Baltic Hub recommends providing information about VGM before entering the terminal. Baltic Hub also considers equipping the terminal with additional scales.

The bill allows for a 5% difference between VGM and the actual container weight.

Baltic Hub has no knowledge in this respect.

To weigh a container an appropriate system order must be issued in the NAVIS system; one weighing order may be issued for several containers. In case of export containers an order may only be placed after prior assignment of the forwarding agency code to the container notified by the Sailing Line. To generate a weighing order “from the road”, select Event Type DCT_WEIGHING_ROAD, for weighing “from the rail”, select DCT_WEIGHING_RAIL, and for weighing “from the yard”, select Event Type DCT_WEIGHING_FROM_YARD. In the event of weighing “from the road”, orders must be issued before the container is stored, and in the event of weighing “from the yard”, there is no specific time limit.

No. Currently, in the first place, the ship operator notifies of the container storage, and then the weighing order may be generated – these are two separate system activities.

After the weighing the ordering party receives, by e-mail, a scan of the printout from the scales control panel.

Yes. The weighing service is provided on a 24-hour basis.