IMSBC Ageing and Weathering Requirements
The pre-shipment ageing and weathering periods the IMSBC Code imposes, from 3 days for ferrosilicon and DRI (B) to 30 days for DRI fines, and the certificates that evidence them.
A number of IMSBC Group B schedules require a cargo to stand for a stated period before it may be loaded, so that the surface reactions that would otherwise run in the hold have already run in the stockpile. The periods are specific, they are certified, and they are among the few schedule requirements a shipper cannot satisfy after the fact.
The full article will set out each period with its schedule: 3 days for ferrosilicon and aluminium ferrosilicon; 3 days for DIRECT REDUCED IRON (B), or air passivation, or another equivalent method approved by the competent authority; 13 days weathering for charcoal, with a statement from the manufacturer or shipper; one month for copra, or a certificate that the moisture content is not more than 5 percent; and 30 days for DIRECT REDUCED IRON (C) and DIRECT REDUCED IRON (D).
It will also address the seed cake family, where the Code requires the cargo to be properly aged and states that the duration varies with the oil content but sets no number at all, so any specific period quoted in commercial guidance does not come from the Code.