1 The Maritime Safety Committee, at its eighty-seventh
session (12 to 21 May 2010), noting that the provisions of the IMSBC Code may be applied from 1 January 2009 on
a voluntary basis and are envisaged to become mandatory under the
SOLAS Convention on 1 January 2011, recognized the need for clarification
of the following stowage and segregation requirements:
-
.1 "This cargo shall not be stowed adjacent to
hot areas." in paragraph 5 in the section for "STOWAGE & SEGREGATION"
in the appendix to the individual schedule for BROWN COAL BRIQUETTES;
and
-
.2 "The master shall ensure that this cargo is
not stowed adjacent to hot areas." in paragraph 4 in the section for
"Segregation and stowage requirements" in the appendix to the individual
schedule for COAL.
2 The Committee agreed that the words "adjacent
to hot areas" in these provisions should be interpreted as "boundary
areas of the cargo hold in contact with the cargo, having a temperature
consistently greater than 55°C during carriage of the cargo, such
as can sometimes be experienced when heated fuel oil service tanks
and fuel oil settling tanks have a common boundary with the cargo
hold".
3 The Committee recommends that, in applying the
aforementioned interpretation, the following is taken into account:
"Heated fuel oil tanks adjacent to cargo spaces carrying
these cargoes should not normally be considered as "hot areas" when
the fuel oil temperature is controlled at less than 55°C; this
temperature is not exceeded for periods greater than 12 hours in any
24-hour period; and the maximum temperature of the fuel oil reached
does not exceed 65°C."
4 Member Governments are invited to use the aforementioned
interpretation as guidance when applying the provisions of the IMSBC Code and to bring it to the attention of
all parties concerned.