IMSBC Code section 8: test procedures for Group A cargoes
The four short subsections that route a Group A cargo to appendix 2 for its transportable moisture limit, and that carry the complementary can test at section 8.4.
Section 8 of the IMSBC Code is titled test procedures for group A cargoes, and it contains no test method of its own. It is four short subsections that route the reader elsewhere and add one shipboard check.
Section 8.1 requires the actual moisture content and the transportable moisture limit to be determined by a procedure determined by the appropriate authority as required by section 4.1.4. Section 8.2 covers moisture content, permitting recognized international and national methods and cross-referring to appendix 2 paragraph 1.1.4.4. Section 8.3 states that the recommended methods for determining the transportable moisture limit are given in appendix 2. That is where the six procedures actually live.
Section 8.4 is the complementary test procedure, the can test, and it is the only method the section carries in full: half fill a container of 0.5 to 1 litre with the sample, drop it sharply onto a hard surface from about 0.2 m, and repeat 25 times at one or two second intervals. Section 8.4.2 adds the caveat that a negative result does not prove the moisture content is below the transportable moisture limit. The full article will cover each subsection, the certification chain behind it and the common misreading that section 8 is where the test procedures are written.