Charcoal: IMSBC Code Schedule and Carriage
The CHARCOAL schedule: a Group B self-heating cargo, the 13-day weathering requirement before shipment, and the shipper statement that evidences it.
CHARCOAL is a Group B solid bulk cargo under the IMSBC Code whose defining carriage requirement is time rather than a physical parameter. The schedule requires the cargo to be weathered for not less than 13 days before shipment, with a statement from the manufacturer or the shipper provided before loading.
The full article will cover the self-heating mechanism that makes the weathering period necessary, the loading temperature and moisture controls, the segregation and hold cleanliness requirements, and the difference between charcoal and activated carbon, which the Code treats under separate entries with different test criteria.
It will also use the 13-day rule as the worked contrast to the wood pellet schedules, which impose no age or cure requirement at all despite both cargoes off-gassing most in the weeks after manufacture.