A 23.8‰ weight shortage in a chrome ore shipment was discovered by the quarantine authority at Taicang port, Jiangsu, Xinhua.net reported on Jan 12, saying the incidence occurred days ago.

The shipment came from Mozambique in Southeast Africa and was supposed to weigh 36,000 tons.

At the first measuring by water level gauge, a 535 ton weight shortage was estimated by the bureau's staff, which equated to a 14.7‰ shortage rate.

On Dec 29, when the cargo ship carrying the shipment unloaded completely, the staff conducted a thorough survey via water level gauge, which produced a 749 ton weight shortage, pushing the shortage rate to 21.1‰. The weight missing accounted for $91,500 worth of commodity.

Then a two-hour long review was carried out after the ship's owner disagreed with the results. Each item was collated until the owner finally agreed.

In the following moisture content measure, the staff found that the chrome ore contained 3.34 percent of moisture content, higher than the 3.03 percent registered with the commodity's loading port.

After excluding the moisture content, the weight shortage rate of the chrome ore reached 23.8‰, nearly eight fold the margin range allowed in bulk cargo trade.

The Taicang port started chrome ore imports in 2015.

During that year, a total of nine ships carrying chrome ore were checked at the port. Severe weight shortages were reported in eight of the ships.

According to the city's quarantine workers, chrome ore weight shortage is not strange to the port authorities in China. They advised the cargo receivers to put settlement weights in water level gauge measurements according to stipulations by China Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau when signing contracts.

Edited by Peter Nordlinger