The International Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Dangerous Chemicals in Bulk (IBC Code) and the Code for the Construction Equipment of Ships Carrying Dangerous Chemicals in Bulk (BCH Code) are international standards that regulate the safe carriage of dangerous and noxious liquid chemicals in bulk on ships.
The IBC Code, adopted in December 1985 and extended to cover marine pollution aspects, applies to chemical tankers built after 1 July 1986. It sets design and construction standards for ships and the equipment they should carry, considering the nature of the chemicals involved. The Code was revised in October 2004 to align with the revised MARPOL Annex II Regulations, which categorize noxious liquid substances into four categories. Ships constructed after 1986 and carrying substances listed in Chapter 17 of the IBC Code must comply with its requirements and be designed to one of three standards: Type 1, Type 2, or Type 3, depending on the severity of environmental and safety hazards associated with the transported chemicals.
For ships constructed before 1 July 1986, the BCH Code applies. Under regulation 11 of MARPOL Annex II, these chemical tankers must comply with the requirements of the BCH Code. The BCH Code remains a recommendation under the 1974 SOLAS Convention.
Both the IBC Code and the BCH Code aim to minimize risks to ships, crews, and the environment during the carriage of dangerous chemicals in bulk. They play a crucial role in promoting safety and pollution prevention in the maritime industry.
The IBC code discusses the following – The Chemical substances carried by ships are identified in chapter 17 and requirements for all these chemicals are discussed.
1. General
- 1.1 Application
- 1.2 Hazards
- 1.3 Definitions
- 1.4 Equivalents
- 1.5 Surveys and certification
2. Ship survival capability and location of cargo tanks
- 2.1 General
- 2.2 Freeboard and intact stability
- 2.3 Shipside discharges below the freeboard deck
- 2.4 Conditions of loading
- 2.5 Damage assumptions
- 2.6 Location of cargo tanks
- 2.7 Flooding assumptions
- 2.8 Standard of damage
- 2.9 Survival requirements
Chapter 03 Ship arrangements
- 3.1 Cargo segregation
- 3.2 Accommodation, service and machinery spaces and control stations
- 3.3 Cargo pump-rooms
- 3.4 Access to spaces in the cargo area
- 3.5 Bilge and ballast arrangements
- 3.6 Pump and pipeline identification
- 3.7 Bow or stern loading and unloading arrangements
Chapter 04 Cargo containment
- 4.1 Definitions
- 4.2 Tank type requirements for individual products
Chapter 05 Cargo transfer
- 5.1 Piping scantlings
- 5.2 Piping fabrication and Joining details
- 5.3 Flange connections
- 5.4 Test requirements for piping
- 5.5 Piping arrangements
- 5.6 Cargo-transfer control systems
- 5.7 Ship”s cargo hoses
Chapter 06 Materials of construction
- 6.1 General
- 6.2 Special requirements for materials
Chapter 07 Cargo temperature control
- 7.1 General
- 7.2 Additional requirements
Chapter 08 Cargo tank venting systems
- 8.1 General
- 8.2 Types of tank vent systems
- 8.3 Venting requirements for individual products
- 8.4 Venting requirements for individual products
- 8.5 Cargo-tank gas-freeing
Chapter 09 Environmental control
- 9.1 General
- 9.2 Environmental control requirements for individual products
Chapter 10 Electrical installations
- 10.1 General
- 10.2 Hazardous locations and types of equipment and wiring
- 10.3 Bonding
- 10.4 Electrical requirements for individual products
Chapter 11 Fire protection and fire extinction
- 11.1 Application
- 11.2 Cargo pump-rooms
- 11.3 Cargo area *
- 11.4 Special requirements
Chapter 12 Mechanical ventilation in the cargo area
- 12.1 Spaces normally entered during cargo-handling operations
- 12.2 Pump rooms and other enclosed spaces normally entered
- 12.3 Spaces not normally entered
Chapter 13 Instrumentation
- 13.1 Gauging
- 13.2 Vapour detection
Chapter 14 Personnel Protection
- 14.1 Protective equipment
- 14.2 Safety equipment
Chapter 15 Special requirements
- 15.01 Acetone cyanohydrin and lactonitrile solution (80% or less)
- 15.02 Ammonium nitrate solution (93% or less)
- 15.03 Carbon disulphide
- 15.04 Diethy ether
- 15.06 Motor fuel anti-knock compounds (containing lead alkyls)
- 15.07 Phosphorus, yellow or white
- 15.08 Propylene oxide and mixtures of ethylene oxide/propylene oxide with an ethylene oxid content of not more than 30%
- 15.09 Sodium chlorate solution (50% or less)
- 15.10 Sulphur (molten)
- 15.11 Acids
- 15.12 Toxic products
- 15.13 Cargoes inhibited against self-reaction
- 15.14 Cargoes with a vapour pressure greater than 1.013 bar absolute at 37.8°C
- 15.15 Cargoes with low ignition temperature and wide flammability range lDeleted]
- 15.16 Cargo contamination
- 15.17 Increased ventilation requirements
- 15.18 Special cargo pump-room”requirements
- 15.19 Overflow control
- 15.20 Alkyl (C7-C9) nitrates all isomers
- 15.21 Temperature sensors
Chapter 16 Operational requirements
- 16.1 Maximum allowable quantity of cargo per tank
- 16.2 Cargo information
- 16.3 Personnel training.
- 16.4 Opening of and entry into cargo tanks
- 16.5 Stowage of cargo samples
- 16.6 Cargoes not to be exposed to excessive heat
- 16.7 Additional operational requirements
Chapter 16A Additional measures for the protection of the marine environment
- 16A.1 General
- 16A.2 Condition of carriage
- 16A.3 Procedures and Arrangements Manual
Chapter 17 Summary of minimum requirements
EXPLANATORY NOTES
Chapter 18 List of chemicals to which the code does not apply
The product names are not always identical with the names given in the various editions of the Bulk Chemical Code(resolution A.212(VII)).
- The following are products which are not considered to come within the scope of the Code. This list may be use as a guide in considering bulk carriage of products whose hazards have not yet been evaluated.
- Although the products listed in this chapter fall outside the scope of the Code, the attention of Administrations is drawn to the fact that some safety precautions may be needed for their safe transportation. Accordingly Administrations should prescribe appropriate safety requirements.
- The products listed below may be subject to reconsideration upon the coming into force of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973/78.
Chapter 19 Requirements for ships engaged in the inceneration at sea
- 19.01 General
- 19.02 Ship survival capability and location of cargo tanks
- 19.03 Ship arrangements
- 19.04 Cargo containment and incinerator standards
- 19.05 Cargo transfer
- 19.06 Materials of construction
- 19.07 Tank vent systems
- 19.08 Cargo-tank environmental control
- 19.09 Electrical installation
- 19.10 Fire protection and fire extinguishing
- 19.11 Mechanical ventilation in the cargo area and in the incinerator location
- 19.12 Instrumentation and overflow control
- 19.13 Personnel protection
Chapter 20 Transport of liquid chemical wastes
- 20.1 Preamble
- 20.2 Definitions
- 20.3 Applicability
- 20.4 Permitted shipments
- 20.5 Documentation
- 20.6 Classification of liquid chemical wastes
- 20.7 Carriage and handling of liquid chemical wastes