DP World is prepared for the implementation of the new International Maritime Organization (IMO) Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regulation which comes into effect on July 1, 2016.

The new regulation mandates that shippers of goods must obtain the verified gross mass (VGM) of loaded export containers and communicate it to ocean carriers sufficiently in advance of the ship stowage planning.

Ocean carriers and container terminal operators will be legally obliged to ensure that containers without a VGM are not loaded onto a ship in all 162 IMO member states that are required to enforce the new law.

DP World’s global terminals will have certified weighing capabilities if this is permitted under the locally adapted implementation of the SOLAS regulation. The U.S. Coast Guard is allowing port facilities to provide the VGM.

Comprehensive weighing services will be offered for exporters to determine the VGM of each container so that they comply with the new regulation. The objective is to prevent serious accidents at sea where a ship’s stability is compromised by wrongly declared cargo weight.

“All our terminals will be ready to meet the obligations under the legislation by July 1 and each one will have certified weighing solutions in place to serve exporters in the IMO member states where we operate,” said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, CEO of DP World. “As an enabler of global trade, DP World is offering customers an efficient solution for this new mandatory international regulation. Safety of a container at sea means security and peace of mind for the shipper.”

DP World handled 61.7 million TEU across its global portfolio of container terminals during 2015, with gross container volumes growing by three percent.