The Container and Vehicle Packing Certificate is a declaration found at Box 15 on a Dangerous Goods Note (the mandatory transport document for moving dangerous goods by sea). Non-completion of Box 15 is a common reason for ferry operators to temporarily refuse vehicles or containers access to carriage by sea – why?
Well, the purpose of Box 15 is really to make a declaration that the goods are “fully and accurately described” on the paperwork in the way the Regulations stipulate. Ferry operators need complete and detailed information with regard to the products, their labels and markings, and their packaging methods in order to comply with the IMDG (Marine) Regulations for dangerous goods. The details enable ferry operators to load vehicles carrying dangerous goods correctly on the vessels. Without these details they are not permitted to accept the vehicles / trailers / containers for carriage. So who should sign Box 15?
It may be signed by any competent person who has witnessed the packing and loading processes and who can verify that the description of the load on the paperwork accurately matches the load itself. As such the Consignor is usually the most likely person to sign.
For direct export loads involving a sea leg, drivers should check that the CVPC Box 15 is signed before leaving the collection address, as to arrive at their port of departure with Box 15 incomplete will incur a delay until the document can be legitimately completed.
But what about in this example - a driver collects a local consignment for return to a domestic hub that is then to be consolidated for export onto another vehicle or container with other dangerous goods? Here the Carrier should then create a new DGN for the export to include a completed Box 15 on the basis of information supplied to them by the Consignors. So the driver making domestic collections need not insist that Box 15 is completed when loading from the originating Consignor.
It is not recommended that drivers sign Box 15 themselves, unless they have genuinely witnessed the packing and loading process and have received the training to enable them to verify this correctly on the documentation in the prescribed format under IMDG code. They should complete and sign the Carrier details elsewhere on the DGN though.