Prior to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) implementation on 1 July, Farsoft was hard at work for weeks on end to enhance the ViTrax software solutions to comply with the new SAMSA requirements. “Most clients received the required updates well ahead of time and during July we’ll be concentrating on customised development,” said Farsoft MD Freddie Roux.

Clients who have the necessary weighbridge equipment may use method 1 to record and capture the following information in ViTrax to determine the verified gross mass (VGM):

• Vehicle + empty container weight
• Vehicle + full container weight
• Tare container weight

 Clients with the necessary pallet weighing equipment may use method 2 to record and capture the following information in ViTrax to determine the VGM:

• Gross weight of each pallet on the consignment
• Tare container weight

On completing the consignment process, ViTrax will generate the necessary SOLAS information on the consignment document and transmit the VGM via EDI transmission files. ViTrax transmission files which have been enhanced to carry the SOLAS information are:

• Prophet/FarSoft standard PI, PO, PS XML files
• FarSoft standard PO CSV file
• PalTrack standard PI, PO, PS files