Recent amendments to Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regulations and the need to mitigate any potential risk has seen the maritime industry becoming increasingly stringent, with operators now required to provide carriers with a Verified Gross Mass (VGM) for each loaded container before being loaded onto a ship.

To ensure its global customers meet these requirements, Konecranes, a product supplied by CFAO Equipment SA in South Africa and a leading international manufacturer of cranes and lifting equipment, has launched its digital Static Weighing Systems solution.

According to Lenny Naidoo, Acting National Operations Manager at CFAO Equipment SA’s Heavy Lift division, the Konecranes Static Weighing System is an industry first. This forms part of Konecranes’ commitment to offer its customers solutions that provide greater levels of productivity and efficiency at port operations.

“The Static Weighing System is a revolutionary system for the industry, significantly improving productivity as reach stackers can now hydraulically measure the weight of lifted containers before they are loaded onto a ship, with 1% full-scale accuracy achieved in less than five seconds.”

The system is simple to operate, with the operator initiating the weighing process from a multi-touch 7-inch control display inside the cabin once the container is lifted into its transport position. The VGM container data is then sent to the in-cab modem which, in turn, shares the data specific to that container.

This data is then automatically transferred and stored in the YourKonecranes cloud-based service, allowing for seamless integration between the weighing systems and users’ Terminal Operating System (TOS), Transport Management System (TMS) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Finally, an automated VGM declaration is generated using the data gathered.

The automated VGM declaration contains detailed information such as gross container mass, exact container ID, time and date stamps on each container, operator details and even lift truck data. Furthermore, the system detects the GPS coordinates of the container, making for easier container picking and loading.

“Utilising the system will allow customers to easily comply with SOLAS regulations, while its fully-integrated features and automated VGM declarations greatly improve operational efficiency and productivity. The seamless and technologically-advanced Konecranes Static Weighing System is just another way we see our industry solutions benefiting our customers’ operations, making their lives easier and their businesses more profitable,” concludes Naidoo.