Coal Tar Pitch: IMSBC Code Schedule and Carriage
The COAL TAR PITCH schedule under the IMSBC Code: Group B with MHB codes TX and CR, its carcinogenic dust profile, and why it shares nothing operationally with coal.
COAL TAR PITCH is a Group B cargo carrying the MHB notation TX and/or CR, that is toxic solids and corrosive solids. It is the solid residue from the distillation of coal tar, and despite sharing a word with coal it has an entirely different hazard profile: the concern is carcinogenic dust and skin contact rather than self-heating, methane or oxygen depletion.
The full article will set out the schedule cell by cell, including the Bulk Cargo Shipping Name and its index synonyms, the physical properties, the Hazard cell, the stowage and segregation requirements, the dust control and personal protection provisions in the Precautions cell, and the discharge and clean-up regime.
It will also address the confusion the naming produces on a fixture. A charterer describing a cargo as coal products may be offering COAL, COAL SLURRY or COAL TAR PITCH, which sit in three different groups and take three different regimes, and only the Bulk Cargo Shipping Name on the shipper’s declaration resolves which.