Wan Hai reiterates maritime declaration requirements, facing heavy penalties for concealing dangerous goods

Recently, major shipping companies have continued to tighten their regulatory standards for cargo declaration. Following Maersk and Dafei's strengthened requirements for dangerous goods inspection, Wanhai Shipping issued a customer notice in July reiterating the punishment rules for concealing goods, further increasing the cost risk of non compliant shipments. This control policy is aimed at all export enterprises, production factories, and logistics service providers, and is not a short-term temporary control. The relevant penalties will be implemented for the long term, and all customers with sea freight shipping plans need to pay more attention to it.

The core reason for the implementation of this control requirement is the frequent occurrence of container spontaneous combustion and leakage accidents caused by the concealment of dangerous goods at sea. This not only causes significant damage to ships and cargo, but also threatens the safety of crew navigation, while violating the International Maritime Organization's IMDG dangerous goods regulations and customs supervision regulations of various countries. In order to avoid safety and legal risks, shipping companies implement full chain accountability for behaviors that do not match the declared goods, and there is no room for negotiation and reduction of penalties afterwards.

Based on the content of this official notice, the core rules for punishment for violations are summarized as follows: Firstly, punishment for failure to truthfully declare dangerous goods. When booking legally hazardous materials such as lithium batteries, chemical raw materials, and energy storage equipment, accurate UN numbers and hazard categories must be fully filled in, and a complete set of MSDS, dangerous goods certificate, and classification identification report must be submitted simultaneously. If concealment, omission, or unclear classification of product names are found during inspection, a penalty of $100000 per box will be charged, and the relevant amount must be fully paid within the notification period of the shipping company. Secondly, dangerous goods hidden in general cargo should be treated equally. Even if the declared product name is labeled as ordinary goods, if the box contains dangerous goods such as batteries, flammable powders, corrosive liquids, or if there are errors or omissions in weight, material, or specification information, the penalty standard of $100000 per box still applies; At the same time, the shipper shall bear all expenses incurred for emergency response at the port, container maintenance, and customs inspection. Thirdly, the mechanism for recovering illegal deposits. Once it is confirmed that the declaration is non compliant, the shipper shall first pay a handling deposit to offset various expenses such as demurrage fees, storage fees, return shipping fees, customs fines, etc; If the deposit is not sufficient to cover all losses, the carrier has the right to continue to recover the difference from the shipping company.

Note: The picture is the announcement released by Wanhai lines

From the current spot check data at ports and docks, it can be seen that new energy goods are a high-risk category for underreporting, and are also a key target for verification by various shipping companies and maritime departments. All types of lithium batteries, energy storage cabinets, electric vehicles, and mechanical equipment with built-in power sources are classified as Class 9 dangerous goods and must be declared in accordance with the corresponding UN coding standards. They cannot be simply labeled as "accessories, complete equipment" and classified as general goods; In addition, chemical products such as pesticides and corrosive solvents are also prone to triggering open box inspections due to unclear declaration information. Once it is confirmed that they have concealed information, they will be directly detained and disposed of.

The frequency of open box inspections on mainstream routes such as Asia Europe, the Middle East, and the United States continues to rise, and the availability of sea freight space resources during peak seasons is tight. Once the goods are detained due to false declaration, not only will they miss the established shipping schedule, but the combined losses of liquidated damages, port detention, warehousing, etc. will often greatly exceed the value of the goods themselves, directly affecting order delivery and enterprise capital turnover.

As a logistics service provider specializing in the export of dangerous goods, we can provide pre shipment document review, dangerous goods classification verification, and maritime declaration support for our cooperative customers. We can identify declaration loopholes in advance and reduce the risk of concealing and withholding goods. Customers who have a demand for shipping dangerous goods or conventional goods by sea can communicate with the business team at any time. We will follow the compliance process of incoming and outgoing goods throughout the process, assist customers in smoothly avoiding various policy risks, and ensure smooth shipment of goods.

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