Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has expanded its longstanding relationship with INTTRA, the world’s ocean shipping electronic marketplace, by adopting the INTTRA eVGM Service as a channel to facilitate compliance with the International Maritime Organization’s Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Verified Gross Mass (VGM) amendment. Under the new rule, which went into effect on July 1, 2016, every container must have a VGM—or certified weight—in order to gain clearance to be loaded onto a ship.

“Many of HMM’s customers are already using INTTRA eVGM,” said Jim Whalen, INTTRA’s President, Asia. “By joining the eVGM network, HMM will provide those customers and additional shippers on the network with simplicity and efficiency in submitting VGM information, facilitating even better customer service.”

“We have been working in partnership with INTTRA for many years and are pleased to announce the broadening of our relationship to include the SOLAS compliance service,” said John Kim, Deputy General Manager, Global CS Team, Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., Ltd. “A major benefit will be connecting directly with key customers through a variety of channels, including EDI, XML, the web and mobile devices.”

INTTRA’s eVGM Service is available in two versions—for carriers and shippers.

The SOLAS rule by its terms requires shippers, which can also include freight forwarders, to be responsible for providing the VGM. However, the Federal Maritime Commission has allowed a flexible approach to meet the IMO requirements for the provision of container weights at six U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports. The Port Operations and Safety Discussion Agreement which was approved by the FMC, permits port authorities in Georgia, Houston, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia to take the weight of a container determined at a terminal gate and report it to an ocean carrier for the purposes of satisfying the SOLAS requirements.