Case Study

Accredited Verification of the Gross Weight of Shipping Containers in the ports of Guatemala

In order to fulfil the amendments of the International Convention for the ¨Safety of Life at Sea¨ -SOLAS-, the shipping company must verify the gross weight of the filled containers before it can be loaded on to a vessel according the provisions stated at the Ministerial Agreement 787-2016 ¨Regulation for the verification of the gross weight of loaded containers¨ issued by the Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing of Guatemala.

The Oficina Guatemalteca de Acreditación -OGA– supports the National Port Authority through the assessment and accreditation of laboratories to ISO/IEC 17025 to calibrate the measuring instruments used for the verification of gross weight. Annually, around 250 000 containers are verified before being stowed on-board, containing products that are sent to the country’s main trading partners around the world.

Further information is available here on the National Port Authority website.