2009 Edition of the IBC Code

1 January 2009 will see the entry into force of the batch of amendments to the IBC Code that were adopted in July 2007.  These amendments affect, firstly, chapter 11, dealing with fire protection and fire extinction.  A provision will be included making regulation 10.5.6 of SOLAS applicable to chemical tankers of 2,000 GT and above.  This will mean that any category A machinery space exceeding 500 m3 in volume must be provided with an approved type of fixed water-based or equivalent local application fire-fighting system in addition to the required fixed fire-extinguishing system.  In addition, the provisions of SOLAS regulation 4.5.10 in respect of continuous monitoring of cargo pump rooms will apply, with references to “hydrocarbon gases” replaced by “flammable vapours”.

There are also amendments to the cargo lists in chapters 17 and 18.  These amendments essentially cover what is shown in List 1 of the current edition of the MEPC.2/Circ. (MEPC.2/Circ.13). Chapters 17 and 18 of the 2009 edition will therefore differ very little from the current version except that the text will have been cleaned up, eliminating double entries and the need for footnote (n).  The ESPH working group that met during the twelfth session of the BLG Sub-Committee in February spent some time considering the issuing of the next edition of the MEPC.2/Circ.  Under normal circumstances MEPC.2/Circ.14 would be issued on 17 December this year and immediately supersede the MEPC.2/Circ.13. It was pointed out, however, that if this were to be the case a number of products would have been removed from the MEPC.2/Circ. and would not be covered by the new edition of the IBC Code until 1 January 2009, thus leaving a period of two weeks where a number of products would not appear on any lists and could effectively not be carried. It was therefore agreed that in these exceptional circumstances the cover note of MEPC.2/Circ.14 will include a note advising that MEPC.2/Circ.13 will remain valid until 31 December 2008.

List 1 of MEPC.2/Circ.14 will contain:

• All tripartite entries that still show an expiry date

• Entries showing “all countries” and with no expiry date that were finalised after adoption of the 2009 amendments

• Entries which were included in the 2009 amendments but for which changes have since been agreed

It should be noted that where changes have been agreed to products that appear in the 2009 edition of the IBC Code, the carriage requirements in the IBC Code will take precedence over those in the MEPC.2/Circ. For logistic reasons this principle was temporarily abandoned when the amended IBC Code entered into force in January 2007, and where there have been double entries the carriage requirements in the MEPC.2/Circ. have superseded those in the IBC Code. From 1 January 2009 this will no longer apply and where a product is assigned new carriage requirements they will not apply until the next edition of the Code enters into force.

The text of the amendments can be found in the Members' Area.