How to fill out a VGM declaration
Since 2016 no container may be loaded to a vessel without a verified gross mass certified by the shipper. It is not a formality and it is not the carrier's job: the shipper named on the bill of lading signs it, and a box without one stays on the quay.
The 19 fields on a verified gross mass declaration
Taken from the document itself, in the order it prints them.
- Document No.
- Date
- B/L / AWB No.
- Shipper / Exporter
The party named as shipper on the bill of lading, and the one legally responsible for this figure. Not the warehouse that did the weighing, not the forwarder who submitted it. If your warehouse weighs the box, the obligation still sits here.
- Carrier
- Container No.
Four letters and seven digits from the box itself. The last digit is a check digit, so a transposition is detectable and will be caught. Copy it from the door, do not retype it from a booking email.
- Seal No.
- Container Type
Twenty foot, forty foot, high cube, reefer. It determines the tare you add under Method 2, and a reefer's tare is several hundred kilos above a dry box of the same length.
- Verified Gross Mass
Cargo, dunnage, packaging and the container's own tare, together. This is legitimately higher than the gross weight on your packing list, which does not include the container — expect roughly 2,200 kg more on a twenty-foot box and 3,800 kg on a forty.
- Weighing Method
Method 1 is weighing the packed container on a calibrated weighbridge. Method 2 is weighing the cargo and packaging and adding the container tare from the plate on the door. Both are permitted; estimating is not, and some jurisdictions require Method 2 users to be certified.
- Weighbridge Reference
The weighbridge ticket number under Method 1. It is the evidence behind the figure, and a port authority asking to see one is not unusual.
- Port of Loading
- Vessel / Voyage
- Date of Departure
The sailing this declaration is for. VGM cut-offs are typically earlier than document cut-offs, often a day or more before the vessel, and missing one means the box rolls to the next sailing.
- Name
A named person, not a department. SOLAS requires the declaration to be signed by a person duly authorised by the shipper, and \u201cLogistics\u201d is not a person.
- Title
- Company
- Place
- Date
A working verified gross mass declaration, prefilled with a sample shipment. Every field above is editable here, and it downloads as a PDF.
SOLAS Chapter VI, Regulation 2 — Verified Gross Mass of a packed container
We declare that the verified gross mass of container is , determined using in accordance with SOLAS Chapter VI Regulation 2 and the IMO guidelines. The mass stated includes the tare mass of the container and the mass of all packages, packing, dunnage and securing material. The signatory below is the person duly authorised by the shipper to sign this declaration.
Your entries are kept as you move between documents: the parties, ports, container and line items all carry across.
Method 1 and Method 2, in practice
Method 1 weighs the packed box, so it needs a weighbridge and it captures everything including the dunnage you forgot. Method 2 weighs each item, the packaging and the pallets, then adds the container tare printed on the door. Method 2 is administratively easier for a factory that already weighs its goods, and it is the one that goes wrong when somebody forgets the pallets.
The warehouse weighing it does not move the liability
This surprises people every time. Whoever physically weighs the container, the declaration is made by the shipper named on the bill of lading, and an understated mass is that shipper's exposure. On a consolidated box the master bill names the consolidator, which is a question worth settling in writing before loading rather than after.
It must agree with your other documents
The gross weight on the packing list and the bill of lading should reconcile with this figure once the container tare is accounted for. A VGM lower than your declared cargo weight is arithmetically impossible and will be spotted; a VGM identical to it means somebody forgot the box.
+Who submits the VGM to the carrier?
Usually the forwarder on the shipper's behalf, but the declaration is the shipper's. Submitting is administration; certifying is the legal act.
+What happens if the VGM is late?
The container is not loaded. Carriers apply the cut-off strictly because they cannot lawfully load without it, and the box rolls to the next sailing at your cost.
+How accurate does it have to be?
Some jurisdictions publish a tolerance, commonly around 5%, but that is enforcement discretion rather than a right. The obligation is to declare the actual mass.
+Does VGM apply to LCL?
The obligation attaches to the packed container, which on LCL is the consolidator's. Your duty is to give them an accurate weight for your portion, and an understatement there makes their certification wrong.
Judge it by the document, not the feature list.
Everything above is already on the form. Fill it in and download the PDF — no account needed.
Open the verified gross mass declaration generator