IMSBC Loading Temperature Limits by Cargo
The loading temperature ceilings across the IMSBC Group B schedules, from 35 degrees C for fishmeal and 40 degrees C for ammonium nitrate to 107 degrees C for petroleum coke.
Several IMSBC Group B schedules cap the temperature at which a cargo may be accepted for loading, and the figures differ by an order of magnitude across the group. The limit is a gate at the berth rather than a voyage alarm setpoint, and reading it as an alarm is a recurring error in commercial guidance.
The full article will tabulate the limits with their schedule sources: 35 degrees C or 5 degrees C above ambient, whichever is higher, for fishmeal; 40 degrees C for ammonium nitrate and ammonium nitrate based fertilizer, the lowest in the Code; ambient plus 10 degrees C or 55 degrees C, whichever is lower, for the mechanically expelled seed cakes; 55 degrees C for self-heating coal and for charcoal screenings; 65 degrees C for all four direct reduced iron schedules; and 107 degrees C for petroleum coke, with its 0.6 metre and 1.0 metre layering rule over bunker tanks whose contents have a flashpoint under 93 degrees C.
It will also cover what the master does when a parcel presents above the limit, which is a refusal question under IMSBC 5.1.3 and SOLAS regulation VI/7.5 rather than a negotiation.