Industry leader sees no full implementation container weighing regs from the start

"The legislation is right but the problem is for industry to put it into practice," he said.

"It is clear there will not be a full implementation from the beginning," said Podesta on the sidelines of a lunch briefing to announce Dachser's results.

"Even some big lines are saying they will show some flexibility," he pointed out, while noting that although the lines are still insisting that the shippers will ultimately be responsible for the cargo and not the forwarders, it is in their interest to make sure that things fall into place as they do not want boxes to be left on the dock at the last minute.

Giving examples of the kind of operational challenges faced, Podesta said even in a relatively well developed region such as Guangdong's Dongguan manufacturing hub, it is unlikely that there will be sufficient facilities to weigh all the boxes passing through. The situation is likely to be even worse in less developed areas.

He said the new regulations "will go through but I don't see how it could happen that every container that goes through can be properly weighed". In addition, exact sanctions are also unclear between different jurisdictions, Podesta added.