Every packed container that goes on a ship needs a Verified Gross Mass (VGM): its total weight, verified, declared before loading. It's a safety rule, and it's strict. No VGM, no load. If you ship ocean freight, this is a step that simply has to be right, every time. Nexport Logistics handles the VGM declaration as part of your booking in the Nexportal platform.
What the rule is
The VGM requirement sits in SOLAS regulation VI/2 (the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea), introduced by Resolution MSC.380(94) and in force since 1 July 2016. It exists because mis-declared container weights have caused ships to be mis-stowed, stacks to collapse and vessels to be put at risk. Two obligations:
- The shipper provides the verified weight, states it on the shipping document and submits it in time for the ship's stowage planning.
- The verified gross mass is a condition for loading a packed container onto a ship.
Who is responsible: the shipper
The shipper, meaning the legal entity named on the Bill of Lading or sea waybill, is responsible for obtaining and documenting the VGM, and the declaration must be signed by a person the shipper has duly authorised. You can't push that responsibility onto the carrier.
The two permitted methods
There are exactly two ways to determine the VGM:
- Method 1, weigh the packed container: weigh the whole, sealed, packed container on calibrated, certified equipment (e.g. a weighbridge).
- Method 2, weigh and add up: weigh all the packages and cargo items, plus the pallets, dunnage and other securing material, and add the container's tare mass. This must use a certified method approved by the competent authority of the country where packing was completed.
Method 1 is straightforward for a fully packed box; Method 2 suits shippers who weigh goods as they pack. Either way the sum is the same: cargo plus packaging and securing material plus the empty container's tare weight.
No VGM, no load (and the cut-off)
Without a VGM, the container may not be loaded. If a box arrives without one, the master or terminal may weigh it on the shipper's behalf if the commercial parties agree, but that costs time and money, and the master keeps ultimate discretion over whether to load. There is a VGM cut-off before the vessel, just like the documentation cut-off. Miss it and the box rolls to the next sailing.
eVGM: submit it electronically
In practice the VGM is sent electronically (eVGM) to the carrier, often through an ocean platform such as Inttra or the port community system Portbase, alongside the booking and shipping instructions. That keeps the weight, the booking and the Bill of Lading data in one consistent flow.
How Nexport Logistics handles it
Nexport Logistics, forwarder under the FENEX conditions, makes sure the VGM is determined correctly (Method 1 or 2), signed, and submitted as eVGM before the cut-off, so your container isn't the one held back at the terminal. It runs alongside your booking, customs and documentation in Nexportal.
Shipping containers by sea? Email info@nexportlogistics.nl and the VGM gets handled with the rest.
Official source: IMO — Verification of the gross mass (VGM) (SOLAS VI/2, Resolution MSC.380(94)). Related: Sea Freight · Shipping Documents · Inttra