The Port Equipment Manufacturers Association (PEMA) has published an information paper on container weighing technologies – a timely resource for the ports industry following the IMO's recent decision on a mandatory worldwide system for verifying container weights.

"Container weighing is an increasingly hot topic in the global shipping industry and recent legislation passed by the IMO indicates that ports worldwide will have an increasingly critical role to play in checking and verifying container weights," said Ottonel Popesco, PEMA president.

Following much international debate on the best approach to reduce the incidence of mis-declared and overweight containers, on September 20 the International Maritime Organization (IMO) finally approved a compromise proposal for verifying the weight of containers before they are loaded onto ships. The new regulations will make container weighing compulsory, or to have their weight otherwise calculated.

PEMA's new report, entitled Weighing Containers in Ports and Terminals, provides ports, terminal operators and other interested parties with information about the port-based container weighing technologies and systems that are currently available and their relative capabilities to accurately verify container weights.

The paper covers both weighbridges and weighing systems for use on various container handling equipment, including ship-to-shore container cranes, mobile harbour cranes, RTG, RMG, straddle carriers, reach stackers and container handling forklift trucks. The document includes a table summarising the various technologies and their accuracy.

Weighing Containers in Ports and Terminals is the fifth information paper to be published by PEMA, following previous papers covering topics such as RFID, Environmental Technologies, Container Yard Automation and OCR.