Can test: the IMSBC complementary shipboard test
The IMSBC Code section 8.4 shipboard check for free moisture in a solid bulk cargo, and the section 8.4.2 caveat on what a dry result does not prove.
The can test is the complementary test procedure the IMSBC Code sets out at section 8.4 for determining the possibility of flow in a solid bulk cargo on board or at the loading berth. The procedure is short: half fill a cylindrical can or similar container of 0.5 to 1 litre capacity with the sample, bring it down sharply onto a hard surface from a height of about 0.2 m, and repeat 25 times at one or two second intervals. The sample is then examined for free moisture or a fluid condition, and where either appears, additional laboratory tests are arranged before the material is accepted.
Section 8.4.2 states the limit of the test plainly. A negative result, meaning no free moisture and no fluid condition, does not prove the moisture content of the cargo is below its transportable moisture limit. The test is evidence on which to refuse a cargo, never evidence on which to load one, and treating it as a substitute for a certificate is a recurring error in loading disputes.
The full article will cover the procedure in detail, the sampling that makes a can test meaningful, its evidential weight in a subsequent claim, and how a master records the result when the outcome contradicts the shipper’s certificate.