IBC Chemical Cargo Finder (category and ship type)
Search IBC Code bulk liquid chemical cargoes by product name and read off the MARPOL Annex II pollution category, ship type, tank type, and carriage requirements, all on one page.
Type a product name in the search box, or filter the list by IMO pollution category or ship type. Select any result to expand its detail: the MARPOL Annex II pollution category, the hazard type, ship type, tank type, and the supporting carriage columns, with links to the relevant guidance. The finder covers more than 560 bulk liquid chemical products.
About This IBC Chemical Cargo Finder
This IBC chemical cargo finder is for chemical-tanker cargo officers, charterers, surveyors, and terminal operators who need the IBC Code carriage requirements for a bulk liquid chemical fast. It searches more than 560 products by name and returns each one’s MARPOL Annex II pollution category, hazard type, ship type, tank type, and the supporting carriage columns, so a single page answers what previously needed one page per cargo.
The data follows the IBC Code, the International Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Dangerous Chemicals in Bulk, which is mandatory under SOLAS Chapter VII and MARPOL Annex II for chemical tankers. The 2020 Edition, in force 1 January 2021 (resolutions MSC.460(101) and MEPC.318(74), with MARPOL Annex II amendments in MEPC.315(74)), set the four-category X, Y, Z, and OS pollution scheme under MARPOL Annex II Reg.6 and reassigned ship types against the revised GESAMP hazard profile. Type a product name to narrow the list, or use the filters for IMO pollution category or ship type.
It replaces hundreds of near-identical single-cargo pages with one searchable reference, which is faster to use and stronger as a single authoritative page. Each result expands to a summary list: the pollution category with its plain-language meaning, the safety or pollution hazard flag, ship type, tank type, tank venting, gauging, fire protection, the electrical profile, and the Chapter 15 and 16 special-requirement clauses. Modern values are color-coded by category severity, X darkest through Z lightest, and every field is labeled with its source so you can see whether a value is the current IMO classification or the public-domain US seed.
Data source and accuracy
The finder draws on two public sources. Modern values, the current X, Y, and Z pollution category, the IBC ship type, the tank type, and the Chapter 15 and 16 special-requirement references, come from the freely published IMO MEPC.2/Circular, which lists products assessed under MARPOL Annex II Reg.6. The remaining products are seeded from the public-domain US Hazardous Materials table in 46 CFR 153 (Table 1), which carries the older five-category A, B, C, D, and III pollution scheme and the US containment types. That older scheme cannot be mechanically converted to the current X, Y, Z scheme, so legacy values are shown in gray, labeled as the US 46 CFR 153 classification, and never presented as a current IMO category.
Treat this finder as a fast first reference. The IBC Code does not assign a UN number to bulk chemical cargoes, so none is shown. The vessel’s Certificate of Fitness and its approved Procedures and Arrangements (P&A) Manual, read with the in-force edition of the IBC Code, are definitive. A product appearing here does not mean a given ship may load it; the ship may carry it only if its Certificate of Fitness lists that product. Confirm every classification, ship-type, tank-type, and carriage decision against a current IBC Code Chapter 17 before acting.