National Road Carriers chairperson Chris Carr has praised local stakeholders for the ease with which the new verified gross mass (VGM) regulations for packed international containers have been adopted.

Stating that New Zealand is in fact “leading the world” in this regard, Mr Carr notes the country even moved to the new regulations on a voluntary basis two weeks prior to the July 1 international deadline.

“A significant amount of work with industry groups went into planning the introduction, with exporters, forwarders, road and rail operators, ports, shipping lines and Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) all involved in working out the best approach, while recognising that the changes to procedures were significant,” he says.

“Discussions with Ports of Auckland, Port of Tauranga and CentrePort show that there have been few issues, and none of the ports had turned cargo away.”

Mr Carr also highlights the role MNZ played in successfully lobbying the International Maritime Organization for dispensation to allow containers shipped prior to July 1 to be handled internationally for a period of three months.

The international regulations were formulated after investigations into the foundering of a containership off the English coast in 2007 revealed that incorrectly-declared container weights had contributed to the failure.