BLU Code and BLU Manual
The IMO code and manual for safe loading and unloading of bulk carriers: resolution A.862(20), the ship and shore checklist, the loading plan and the SOLAS VI/7 hook.
The Code of Practice for the Safe Loading and Unloading of Bulk Carriers was adopted by IMO Assembly resolution A.862(20) on 27 November 1997, after a run of bulk carrier losses in which loading practice was implicated. It is linked to SOLAS regulation VI/7 and amended by two later MSC resolutions. The companion BLU Manual, for terminal representatives, was approved at MSC 80 in May 2005 as a circular.
The full article will cover the sequence the code prescribes. The exchange of information between ship and terminal before arrival, the agreed loading or unloading plan and the limits it sets on rate and sequence, the ship and shore safety checklist, the appointment and duties of the terminal representative, and the master’s authority to stop the operation.
It will treat the structural reasoning behind the code, which is what distinguishes it from a general cargo procedure: the hull girder shear force and bending moment envelope during loading, the local loading limits on the double bottom and hopper structure, and the alternate hold loading conditions that raise both. It will also cover the deballasting coordination that governs how fast a plan can actually run.