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Customer User Guide:

- Verified Gross Mass (VGM) -
How to Submit VGM Data To Hapag-Lloyd
Hapag-Lloyd - June, 7 2016
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Verified Gross Mass (VGM): How to submit VGM data to Hapag-Lloyd

As of July 1, 2016, only containers with a ‘Verified Gross Mass’ (VGM) can be loaded on board of a SOLAS
relevant vessel. Find out here how to obtain the ‘Verified Gross Mass’. It is highly appreciated and
recommended by SOLAS that the submission of the VGM is done via electronic channels. Thereby, all
involved parties avoid any delays or errors during the transmission.

In order to meet all requirements and to prevent unfavourable cases, Hapag-Lloyd has designed various
solutions which offer quick transmission and finally, safer transports. The container’s tare weight is not only
available on the container door. You can find it within our ‘Online Business’ section website as well. The
submission of the VGM data is possible after a quick registration via our ‘webVGM’ or the ‘VGM Excel
Template’. Our applications offer a monitoring of your VGM status as well as a VGM reminder e-mail. In the
following, you will find further explanations and descriptions of our Hapag-Lloyd VGM tools and supported
channels like portals.

1. Contents

2. How to get the Container Tare Weight? ......................................................................... 3

2.1 Find the container tare weight via Website Tracing ........................................................................ 3
2.1.1 If the entered container number is not known to Hapag-Lloyd ........................................................ 4
2.1.2 Using of the Hapag-Lloyd ‘GetInfo’ Tool.......................................................................................... 4
3. How to submit and monitor Verified Gross Mass via the Website? ................................ 5
3.1 How to register to use the Online Business features ...................................................................... 5
3.1.2 Full Registration for Online Business features (including VGM) ..................................................... 7
3.2 Where to get the cut-off dates to submit VGM data? ...................................................................... 8
3.2.1 Cut-off dates in the Booking-Confirmation PDF .............................................................................. 8
3.2.2 Cut-off dates on our Website - via ‘Shipments Details’ ................................................................... 9
3.2.3 Cut-off dates via our Website - via ‘Interactive Schedule’ ............................................................. 10
3.3 Submission of VGM via our Website ............................................................................................. 11
3.3.1 Navigation to ‘WebVGM’................................................................................................................ 11
3.3.2 WebVGM submission screen for all registered users ................................................................... 12
3.3.3 ‘WebVGM’ warning / error messages and what to do ................................................................... 13
3.3.4 The use of ‘Add Details’ within ‘WebVGM’ .................................................................................... 14
3.4 Submission via the Hapag-Lloyd ‘VGM-Excel Template’ .............................................................. 14
3.4.1 How to work with the ‘VGM Excel Template’ ................................................................................. 15
3.5 VGM Monitoring with ‘WebVGM’ ................................................................................................... 16
3.5.1 ‘webVGM’ Filter Options ................................................................................................................ 16
3.5.2 ‘My Shipments’ – for full registered users only .............................................................................. 17
3.5.3 ‘My Transmissions’ – for all kind of registered users ..................................................................... 18
3.6 Submission via bilateral EDI with VERMAS, IFTMIN or ANSI 304 ............................................... 18
3.7 No VGM submission via eaSI Shipping Instructions ..................................................................... 18
3.8 Submission via Portals .................................................................................................................. 19
3.9 VGM Answer Message (E-Mail): Reject / Accept / Conditional Accept ......................................... 20
4. Hapag-Lloyd VGM support........................................................................................... 21
4.1 VGM ‘Reminder Mail’ ..................................................................................................................... 21
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2. How to get the Container Tare Weight?

2.1 Find the container tare weight via Website Tracing

Container tare weight of a specific container is displayed within the tracing function on our Website. Enter
the respective container number and click the ‘Trace’ button.

If your container number is known to us, you will automatically be forwarded to our Online Business
Tracing feature where the tare weight is displayed.
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2.1.1 If the entered container number is not known to Hapag-Lloyd

You will receive a warning message “Container for given Container-Number not found.”

Please check if your container number is correct. If your container number is correct, but not found in our
system, please contact your local Hapag-Lloyd point of entry to help to locate the problem together with you.

2.1.2 Using of the Hapag-Lloyd ‘GetInfo’ Tool

As an alternative to our online service you can receive tare weight information in your e-mail mailbox by using
our simple GetInfo Message Service. Send an email to [email protected]. Enter the letter "T" for Tracing
Information or a “C” for Container Specifications only in the subject line, followed by a colon and the container
number – e. g. “C:HLCU1234567”

 Enter up to 3 container numbers each separated by a (;) semicolon.

 Include no spaces.
 Send the e-mail

You will instantly receive a reply mail, which will look like next page example.
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3. How to submit and monitor Verified Gross Mass via the Website?
3.1 How to register to use the Online Business features

To use the submission of the VGM Data you have to be a registered user of the Hapag-Lloyd Online
Business. If you are already registered you can use VGM already.

We offer two kinds of registration:

1. VGM monitoring and submission = ‘Register as Guest’

2. Full functionality of the Hapag-Lloyd Online Business – including VGM monitoring/submission.

3.1.1 Registration to monitor and submit the VGM

In case you do not need all parts of our Online Business but only want to monitor and submit VGM
information, you can register for the VGM monitoring and submission only by clicking on ‘Register as Guest’.
After having successfully completed the registration process you will also have the possibility to download
our VGM Excel Tempate. Please find on the following pages the detailed screens for the Guest registration:
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You will be guided to the following screen:

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After submitting your ‘guest registration’ you will receive an e-mail with a link to click on to verify your
registration.

In case you are an active transport party in the shipments but you only register for ‘Register as Guest’ and
now you want to use as well other ‘Online Business’ functions you can ‘update your account’ also at a later
stage.

3.1.2 Customer Registration for Online Business features (including VGM)

If you want to provide your VGM information, and in addition also want to use other parts of our Hapag-Lloyd Online
Business, you should register for the full functionality:

 Submit Bookings and Shipping Instructions

 Watch your shipment status with My Shipments
 Use enhanced Tracing features
 Use our comfortable Import Suite to manage your incoming shipments

Please find on the following pages the detailed screens for the Customer Registration:

Please scroll down for

the full registration
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In case you have already shipment

references with us this will speed
up the registration process.

Finally you can

submit your
registration by
clicking
‘Submit’

3.2 Where to get the cut-off dates to submit VGM data?

We recognize that it is important for you to know the date and time you have to submit your VGM data to
Hapag-Lloyd. Therefore, we would like to show you where you can find the VGM cut-off dates.

3.2.1 Cut-off dates in the Booking-Confirmation PDF

Within our PDF Booking Confirmation we provide the relevant cut-off dates for your shipment, including
VGM cut-off dates (see below picture).
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3.2.2 Cut-off dates on our Website - via ‘Shipments Details’

As a user with full registration for our Online Business (see registration), you get access to ‘My Shipments’
where you can select (with the right mouse button or scroll down) a shipment and switch to Shipment Details
to see all relevant cut-off dates including the one for VGM:
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3.2.3 Cut-off dates via our Website - via ‘Interactive Schedule’

Another possibility to access the VGM cut-off date in our Online Business without log-in, is supported via the
‘Interactive Schedule’. Within this feature, please enter your routing and click on ‘Find’

As a result you will get a list of matching routings (1). Select the one of your choice and click on the ‘Routing
Details’ button. On the ‘Routing Details’ screen (2), select the load port and click ‘Closing and Terminal Details
(3)’. On this screen select the export Terminal and click ‘Details’ again. On the Terminal Details screen (4) you
will find all relevant cut off times including the VGM cut-off date.
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3.3 Submission of VGM via our Website

'webVGM' is the Hapag-Lloyd online solution for providing VGM data. ‘WebVGM’ requires a registration with
Hapag-Lloyd Online Business.

3.3.1 Navigation to ‘WebVGM’

You can start to submit VGM data immediately after both kinds of registrations (‘VGM Submission only’ or the
full registration). Additional applications will be granted at a later stage within the full registration, depending
on our security verification process. Now you can switch to ‘Shipments’ in the navigation bar:

On the following screen, please click ‘WebVGM’. You can ignore the red line text, as this will be available for
you when you are granted as ‘Online Business’ after our security verification process.
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You will now be guided to the ‘webVGM (My Transmissions)’ screen:

3.3.2 WebVGM submission screen for all registered users

‘WebVGM’ allows you to submit the VGM details under your user account for up to five containers at a time.
You can submit your VGM data once all mandatory details are entered. Mandatory details are: ‘Booking
Number’, ‘Container Number’, ‘Verified Weight’, ‘Weight Unit’, ‘Verification Signature’ and the ‘Shipper
Company’. By pressing ‘Get Tare and Validate’ it will be verified if the container- and booking no. is known to
us and if the VGM is in line with the maximal allowed gross container weight limits. In addition the system will
display the tare weight and the maximal allowed gross weight of the container. If all is ok, please click the
‘Submit’ button (see below button picture) to send VGM. You will then get the status ‘SENT’ within the list. If
you want to submit more than 5 containers per shipment, click the button ‘New Entry’. ‘View Details’ will be
explained under item 3.3.4 accordingly.
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3.3.3 ‘WebVGM’ warning / error messages and what to do

If the Container No. is unknown to Hapag-Lloyd, e. g. when sending shipper’s owned container data, the field
of the ‘Size Type’ will be framed red. Move your mouse over the red framed field to get a detailed error
message. In this case you are required to enter the Container Type as per the UN standard in the next right
field (see link for ISO Size Type details).

If the Container No. is not linked to your Booking no. the message will be as per below. Please check if your
container number or size type is correct. If everything is correct, please contact your local Hapag-Lloyd point
of entry to solve the problem together with you, e. g. when the container is linked to another booking no.

If the VGM exceeds the maximum allowed container weight, you will not be able to submit the VGM. The
Status will be ‘PREPARED’, the Container No. will be framed red. Move your mouse over the Container No.
and you will get the following warning:

Adjust the weight and resent.

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3.3.4 The use of ‘View Details’ within ‘WebVGM’

To provide optional VGM details press ‘View Details’ to switch between mandatory and additional optional
fields. The optional fields provide you the opportunity to enter important information like determination date,
Solas Method in order to comply with your specific country requirements:

If you want to submit more than 5 containers per shipment, click the button ‘New Entry’.

3.4 Submission via the Hapag-Lloyd ‘VGM-Excel Template’

With the ‘VGM Excel Template’, Hapag-Lloyd offers you an easy and straight forward tool to provide VGM
details to Hapag-Lloyd without the need to log in our website each time you want to provide a VGM. As
a registered Hapag-Lloyd Online Business user you can click the link ‘VGM Excel Template’ to download the
‘VGM Excel Template’ from our Online Business Section:
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3.4.1 How to work with the ‘VGM Excel Template’

To expedite the submission of the Verified Gross Mass (VGM) to Hapag-Lloyd we have developed the VGM
Excel file. This is a macro based Excel document that will convert your VGM data into an XML file which can
then be submitted to Hapag-Lloyd by e-mail.

Instructions:
1. Download the VGM Excel file from our website and store it on your local drive.
2. Before starting with the VGM input, make sure that you have enabled macros.

3. Insert the VGM details, mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk.

Note: You can insert several VGMs for different containers across multiple bookings. Save your input until all
relevant VGMs are inserted and ready for submission.

Description:

 Provider Party Name and Contact details: Company that submits the VGM including contact details.
 Responsible Party: This is the Shipper for whom the VGM is submitted.
 Authorized Person: The full name of the authorized and responsible party.
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Mandatory VGM details:

 Booking Number or BL number

 Container Number
 VGM weight
 Unit of measure
 In case of shipper’s owned container, please also provide the ISO Size Types.
See link for ISO Size Type details.
 All other details are optional and must only be submitted in accordance with local country
legislations.
 Submit the XML file using the same e-mail address you used for your registration:

If you are using ‘Outlook’ as your e-mail application, this button will
automatically create a new e-mail with the XML file attached.

This button will create the XML file and will save it on the selected
drive from where you can attach it to an e-mail later on. The e-mail
must be sent to: ‘[email protected]’.

4. As soon as we receive your e-mail with the XML file, we will return an e-mail acknowledgment back to
you on container level showing whether the VGM for the container was:

a. ACCEPTED
b. CONDITIONALLY ACCEPTED (exception handling in progress at Hapag-Lloyd) or
c. REJECTED

For more information about this messages please see these messages click here.

3.5 VGM Monitoring with ‘WebVGM’

Each Hapag-Lloyd Online Business user (including the customers using ‘VGM Excel Template’) will be in the
position to view those bookings where his / her assigned company (organization) is involved as a transport
party. Shipment data is never published to persons / users who are not involved in the transport. This function
is available to all our online business customers.

All registered users can monitor their transmissions via ‘WebVGM’. Only full registered users can make use of
the ‘My Shipments’ and ‘My Transmission’ filter options. Using the filter options, you will be able to see
instantly which of your shipments have outstanding VGM information. In the ‘Filter Options’, fully registered
Hapag-Lloyd ‘Online Business users will be enabled to chose within ‘WebVGM (My Shipments)’ Booking- or
Container No. as well as the ‘VGM status’.

All ‘VGM Submission only’ users can only see ‘My transmissions’. It gives a general overview of all of that
user’s recent VGM submissions with Hapag-Lloyd. Upon entering the site all of recent VGM submissions via
‘WebVGM’ or Excel will be displayed. Transmission via portals will not be visible here.

3.5.1 ‘webVGM’ Filter Options

View of the ‘Filter Options’ – for full registered users only:

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“You can change the view from the filter option ‘My Shipments’ to ‘My Transmissions’. You can also use the
‘Filter by due VGM’ in order to see the most time critical shipments.

View of the ‘Filter Options’ – for ‘VGM Submission only” users:

3.5.2 ‘My Shipments’ – for full registered users only

Depending of the use of the ‘Filter Options’ you can have the following view:

Meaning of the Columns and Buttons (My Shipments)

 Booking No.: The booking number of your shipment.

 VGM Cut Off: The indication of the date when the VGM cut off is established for the relevant vessel of
the shipment.
 Customer Reference: If there is a customer reference defined for your shipment, it will be displayed
here.
 Start of Transport, Port of Loading: The start location in the routing. If it is different from the first port of
loading, we will also display the location name of the first port of loading. It can be different from the port
of loading of the mainline carriage.
 Vessel Departure: Here you will find the planned vessel departure date at the loading port of the first
vessel leg of your booking.
 End of Transport, Port of Discharge: The last port of discharge in the routing. It can be different from
the port of discharge of the main carriage. If it is not the last location in the routing, we will also
display the last location in the routing as well.
 VGM Status: Either Complete (Every container of this shipment has a valid VGM) or Incomplete (At least
one container of this shipment does not have a valid VGM).
 ‘Next’ button: There are shown up to 15 entries on the list. If you have more, please click ‘Next’
 ‘Display Containers’ button: If you select one entry you can have a look at the Container under the
‘VGM Detail’:
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3.5.3 ‘My Transmissions’ – for all kind of registered users

Depending of the use of the ‘Filter Options’ you can have the following view:

Meaning of the Columns (My Transmissions)

 Booking No.: The booking number for this transmission.

 Container No.: The container number for this transmission.
 Verification Signature: The duly authorized person you obtained the weight.
 Verified Weight: The specified weight of this transmission.
 Unit: The unit of weight for this transmission.
 Received Date: Date when the VGM was received by Hapag-Lloyd. This may be different from the
processing date.
 Received Time: Time when the VGM was received by Hapag-Lloyd. This may be different from the
processing time.
 VGM Status: The status of this transmission. Possible values are: Sent (VGM sent, but not yet
processed), Pending (VGM in processing, but no result yet), Conditional (VGM processed, but needs
manual checking by Hapag-Lloyd), Rejected (VGM processed, but error occurred please review
processing report via email), Complete (VGM processed successfully)

The explanation of the button(s) you will find in the previous item.

3.6 Submission via bilateral EDI with VERMAS, IFTMIN or ANSI 304

The most preferred VGM channel by Hapag-Lloyd is the EDI channel as it enables sender and receiver to
automate the VGM process, increase data quality and to gain efficiency on both sides. From a process point
of view Hapag-Lloyd prefers the VERMAS message as it enables the Shipper to send VGM as early as
possible and completely independent from any documentation processes. As a 2nd preferred option Hapag-
Lloyd accept IFTMIN / ANSI 304. For EDIFACT based messages (VERMAS and IFTMIN), Hapag-Lloyd
provides a APERAK message for each received container VGM with a status (accept, conditionally accept,
reject).

3.7 No VGM submission via eaSI Shipping Instructions

The Hapag-Lloyd Shipping-Instructions form ‘eaSI’ (electronic-advances Shipping Instructions) should not be
used to submit VGM data at all. Do not use either ‘Remarks’ nor the ‘Description of Goods’ to submit VGM
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data or any other field within the form. A warning message will pop up before sending the form to make you
aware that Hapag-Lloyd will not process VGM data, as they are not structured. Do not use the e-mail body or
subject line to provide VGM information if you use the eaSI mail-function.

3.8 Submission via Portals

Introduction

This sections provides an overview about those portals providing VGM via an EDI connection to
Hapag-Lloyd.

Hapag-Lloyd connected portals

At the end it is the customer’s choice to select his method of submitting VGM. If your choice is a portal, here
you will find those portals we are currently supporting beside our own webpage and e-channels.

 CargoSmart
 Dakosy
 DBH Logistics
 Easipass
 GT Nexus
 INTTRA
 Portrix
 SEA-NACCS CENTER

For details of the different offers around VGM per portal like webpage entry, monitoring features, alerting
about missing VGM, weight summarizing etc. please visit the portal. If there is any request about any portal
not listed above, please contact e-mail: [email protected].

For all portals a registration by customer in the respective portal is required. A registration for Hapag-Lloyd
online business is not required. If you submit VGM via a portal you can monitor your data via our webpage as
a full registered Online Business customer. See section about the Monitoring for My Shipments.
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3.9 VGM Answer Message (E-Mail): Reject / Accept / Conditional Accept

When sending the VGM via our ‘webVGM’ or via our ‘VGM Excel Template’, we will return an e-mail
acknowledgment back to you showing whether the VGM was ACCEPTED, CONDITIONALLY ACCEPTED
(exception handling in progress at Hapag-Lloyd) or REJECTED. In case of a conditionally accepted VGM your
local Hapag-Lloyd office will contact you if the VGM cannot be accepted, otherwise you will receive an
automatic accept as soon as the exception handling is completed. In case of rejections the e-mail will also
show the reject reason which can be the following:

 Reported booking number invalid.

 Reported bill of lading/sea waybill number invalid. No booking number reported.
 No booking number reported.
 Reported booking number and bill of lading/sea waybill number invalid.
 No container number reported.
 Reported container number invalid.
 Reported container number and/or size type missing or invalid.
 No weight reported.
 Reported weight less than container tare weight.
 Reported weight exceeds maximum container gross weight.
 No unit of weight reported.
 Reported unit of weight invalid.
 No authorized person reported.
 In those cases please correct and resend the VGM.
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4. Hapag-Lloyd VGM support

4.1 VGM ‘Reminder Mail’

Our focus is to serve you. That is why we are helping you with your duty to submit the VGM data to the
carrier. We provide you with some helpful reminder mails if your VGM data are still missing:

 If our IT system recognize your container has been reach the Container yard (‘GATE IN’)
 24 hours before the VGM cut-off

If the cut-off has been passed without your VGM data, we are not allowed to load your container, but we will
serve you with a ‘VGM OVERVIEW’ mail with the container numbers concerned.