As to the carriage of COAL and BROWN COAL BRIQUETTES, the following stowage and segregation requirements have been prescribed in the IMSBC Code expected to become mandatory under the SOLAS Convention on 1 January 2011.

- BROWN COAL BRIQUETTES
"This cargo shall not be stowed adjacent to hot areas."

- COAL
"The master shall ensure that this cargo is not stowed adjacent to hot areas."

IMO Sub-Committee, DSC14, held on September 2009 agreed that the words "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".

In applying the aforementioned interpretation, DSC14 also agreed to recommend that 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".

After the draft interpretation is approved at MSC87 held on May 2010, the interpretation will be issued as MSC Circular in advance of the IMSBC Code being made mandatory.

For any questions about the above, please contact:

NIPPON KAIJI KYOKAI (ClassNK)
Material & Equipment Department, Administration Center, Head Office
Address: 4-7, Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8567, Japan
Tel.: +81-3-5226-2020
Fax: +81-3-5226-2057
E-mail: eqd@classnk.or.jp