SOLAS (SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA) CWV

S.O.L.A.S or Safety of life at sea Container Weight Verification programme has finally arrived. After equal amounts of hype and confusion, the new rules and procedures came into practice from 1st July 2016.

As late as a couple of months ago many shipping Lines, Freight forwarders, exporters and even some UK ports were not sure how they would deal with the implementation of the new programme and panic started to set in. Would there be a postponement, would we all see miles of queuing traffic tailing back from the nearest public weight bridge, would containers be backed up at the ports?  This was brought home to me on a recent port visit to Felixstowe only three months ago when I was asked by the port how we were going to handle S.O.L.A.S weight verification, my response was along the lines of "I was going to ask you the same thing".

Despite some last minute hysteria everyone has seemed to get their act together, and so far (I say with a glass half full) everything seems to have gone very well indeed for us in the UK. The ports have stepped up to the mark by quickly and efficiently weighing cargo and we have seen no major delays to shipments emanating from UK ports. We have also been rather impressed by the low costs implemented across the board by both shipping lines, UK port authorities, freight forwarders and consolidators alike. No one can say that this was a policy introduced to raise revenues as the fees are very modest in our country, and therefore should not have a detrimental effect on our already fragile export market. I will try not to get too carried away  while the scheme is in its infancy..

When you look into the history of the IMO S.O.L.A.S conventions you will see that many very important regulations have been introduced by the authority, dating back to the Titanic disaster of 1914. Since the these new rules and regulations have certainly fulfilled their promise to save lives at sea amongst the merchant fleet.

In the photograph at the top of this article you can see the ill fated "MOL Comfort" in distress after a major crack appeared in the vessel which many believe was the result of under declared weight in the far east. Soon after the bow and stern of the vessel separated and despite much effort to rescue the vessel the crew were evacuated and both parts of the vessel eventually sank. You can also see from the size of vessels we are now dealing with in the UK that miss-declarations of weight could cause serious stability issues. The CSCL GLOBE is one of the larger vessels to call in the UK with a capacity exceeding 18,000 TEU's (twenty foot equivalent units). With sizes of vessels increasing year upon year the new rules could not have come into place at a more relevant time.

The procedure is fairly simple. The shipper must confirm the gross combined weight (kg's) of the container and the cargo by declaration in form of a "Verified Gross Mass declaration" or "VGM". If the VGM is found to be correct the port will charge a nominal fee only to the shipping line, who will pass to their booking party. However if the weight is incorrect the port will charges additional fees for issuing new certificate along with a slightly higher fee for the weighing of the container. If the shipper is unable to provide a 100% accurate weight they must give good indication of weight to their forwarder or shipping line if they book directly so that safe road haulage can be carried out and then the port will weigh the container on arrival and produce a VGM so that the goods can proceed for loading. This option will be more cost effective than a wrongly declared VGM. There are alternative weigh bridges other than the ports who can offer similar services.

To find out more regarding how S.O.L.A.S CWV will effect your business please feel free to contact us with your enquiries via our website www.mannson.com .

Lets all ship safe together!!

Customer Service, a lost art?

We have all been there, hanging on the line for a phone company or utility company or Government Service when we are told that "your call will be answered in the next 30-40 minutes", or you can revert to a website. It is annoying, it is unacceptable but what can we do? Generally not a lot!!

The same should not apply for smaller businesses where customer service is often key to survival or to industries like the freight business where the client has a choice of hundreds of providers so Customer Service should be paramount. The United Kingdom is now a great exporter of services based products to the rest of the world, so we should be experts in this field. Unfortunately this is not always the case. 

Constraints on businesses due to increasing competition and narrowing margins can lead to staff being overworked and pushed to their limit, where upon the common courtesy of a friendly tone or a nicely worded email go out of the window. How often do we now chose to send an email rather than pick up the telephone or even better do both. If we do follow up with a call will the customer appreciate it or will they themselves be to busy to speak to us.. Well I think its always worth making the extra effort.

As Managing Director of Mannson Freight Services I have spent a lot of time in the office brokering deals with agents and carriers, making sure systems and procedures are all in place and being adhered to and travelling the globe to visit our overseas partners and clients. So it would be very easy for me to take my eye of the ball and not keep a close watch on the desk to desk relationships between our own staff and the staff of our clients. With this in mind I decided that I would hit the road again and spend a few months visiting clients far and wide.

What I find in general is thankfully that we are doing a grand job, however there are of course the occasional blips, after all we are all human! The more interesting findings were regarding the interpretations made by clients when they are sent a short message which can be read either way. For example when replying to an email with the word "done, completed or actioned" etc. but nothing else the client can interpret  this as being cold or uninterested or they can take it that the job has been done, however much will depend on the mood of the receiver and their expectations. This is a small thing, but small things matter so why take chances. A little customer service, a few additional words on a simple email, picking up a phone or the odd smiley face can go a long way!

Don't ever expect your clients to know what stress you are under and therefore understand your shortness with them, don't let your standards slip. Smile and the world smiles with you..... 

Point in question...  Majority of Americans not happy with freight forwarders phone manner...

Back to business...

We have had a lot of excitement over the past two weeks, what with Brexit, the enthralling rugby tour of Australia and then the home countries achievements (and lack of them for England) at Euro 2016. Now it is time to return to business without any of these distractions.

The beginning of 2016 was fairly slow for imports from Asia and Indian sub-continent to Europe according to statistics. These areas still represent very large trading blocks for UK Business outside of Europe and are good indicators of how the global economy and buying patters are operating. However, from the beginning of May the order books of manufacturers in Asia seem to have picked up and vessels are starting to run at near capacity on many of these trade lanes which is starting to effect freight levels as space is more constrained.

At Mannson Freight we operate our own sealed containers between India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, S.E. Asia, Australasia, USA and UK ports. we have seen increased volume across all services in the past two months which is a very encouraging sign.

Patterns of trading seem to change over time and there is certainly a more cautious approach from buyers in Europe who tend not to overstock and instead rely more and more on JIT (Just In Time) logistics to ensure there customers can purchase goods straight off the shelf. The model of a slow start to the year with peak period between May and November seems to be fairly consistent year on year at present. This will effect how shipping lines handle their pricing with flexible Peak Season Surcharges etc. and importers should be aware of this...