We would like to remind you of the importance in providing the actual gross cargo weight (inclusive of packing material and pallets) prior to tendering cargo for rail transportation to US load ports. This is a requirement when submitting rail billing requests to Maersk and is in accordance with the Intermodal Safe Container Transportation Act of 1992.
As you are likely already aware, US load ports routinely weigh containers upon gate-in and provide weights to Maersk via EDI 322 transactions for VGM purposes; however, containers arriving by rail to certain US ports are not scaled by the ocean terminal. Please see list of these ocean terminals below:
- Long Beach SSA Terminal Pier A
- LBCT Terminal at Pier E
- Long Beach ITS Pier G
- Long Beach Pier J
- Los Angeles APM Terminal Pier 400
- Los Angeles West Basin Container Terminal
- Los Angeles APL Eagle Terminal
- Miami POMTOC
- Mobile Container Terminal
- Newark APM Terminal Berth 88
- Seattle SSA Terminal T18
- Tacoma Husky Terminal
In their Marine Safety Information Bulletin, dated April 28, 2016, the US Coast Guard declared, “for the purposes of determining the VGM of a container, any equipment currently being used to comply with Federal or State laws, including the Intermodal Safe Container Transportation Act and the container weight requirements in 29 CFR 1918.85(b), are acceptable for the purpose of complying with SOLAS.”
Therefore, in lieu of shipper’s VGM submission for export rail cargo via the ocean terminals listed above, Maersk uses the gross cargo weight declared by the shipper, their trucker, or other agent in the rail billing request, and adds the container tare weight to produce a VGM. VGM is updated shortly after the container on-rails from the origin rail ramp.
Gross cargo weight in the rail billing request should be as accurate as possible to help ensure safe inland transport and stowage planning for the vessel.
If you believe the VGM updated in our system based on the rail billing weight should be amended for accuracy, please write to us at us.customerexperience@maersk.com prior to the vessel cutoff at the load port.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your local customer service representative. You will find contact details of our local offices on Maersk.com
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