HONG KONG's Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) has announced that its network of ports will be ready for full compliance with the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention before it takes effect on July 1.

The company statement said that it would provide as "air-tight process and systems to prevent the loading of containers onto vessels without VGM [verified gross mass]."

It would also provide "container weighing services through different cost-effective means will be offered by most HPH container terminals".

Yet, the company also said: "The actual enforcement of SOLAS compliance will be the prerogative of the local authorities and the terminal operators will work under the conditions that are established."

"All shippers must comply with this mandatory container weight verification, also known as verified gross mass (VGM), by providing this information to both the carrier and container terminal operator prior to the cargo being loaded onto a vessel," said the HPH statement.