Brendan Kenneally (Fianna Fail)

I assume the regulations stipulate that all vehicles, heavy goods vehicles in particular, are weighed before they are put onboard vessels. A person attempting to distribute loads throughout a vessel needs to know the weight of each of them. I assume this is already happening and that what the Minister of State is attempting to do here is to bring clarity to the legislation in this regard.

Container traffic refers to goods carried by sea that are not loaded onboard a vessel by way of a goods vehicle. There is a significant amount of this traffic from various ports in this State to all parts of the world. Goods transported in this way are usually lifted from lorries and put onto the container ships which are particularly built for this purpose. In this regard, I understand there is no practice of weighing these containers before they are loaded onto the vessels. Will the Minister of State explain whether this issue is clarified in the legislation?