THE EU and other ports around the world are checking incoming containers at random for compliant contents and have impounded the shipments of a number of offenders over the past few years.
That’s the warning from the Responsible Packaging Management Association of Southern Africa (RPMASA) which added that EU ports are particularly vigilant with the final dates of REACH compliance now having past.
The association said it understood that the impounds involved non-complaint packaging of various types from reconditioned IBCs to drums and bags. Incorrect labelling was also identified as an issue in several cases.
“Unfortunately, a number of these have been from South Africa. This puts a greater focus on incoming shipments from our region so please check that your classification, packaging, labelling and SDS are compliant for the local market, shipping and the country exporting to,” the association urged in a statement.
“The costs of non-compliance can be huge and include cost of warehousing, repacking, new compliant packaging, labelling and penalties.” The USA Penalties for Marine Pollution under MARPOL start at $70 000 and for first offence for a hazardous waste spill $164 000.
Another potential cost was loss from a ship or damage to other cargo, the association said, adding that training of staff was cheap in comparison.