Container Carriage – Seed Cake Guidelines

“Seed Cake” is the term used for a wide range of pulp, meals, cake, pellets, expellers and other similar cargo, which is the residue after the edible vegetable oils have been removed. Seed cake is used principally as an ingredient in animal feeds. Differing forms and extraction methods means that the oil and moisture content of seed cake varies, and under certain conditions the cargo has the potential to self-heat during transportation.

New Guidelines for the Carriage of Seed Cake in Containers have now been published jointly by the International Group of P&I Clubs (IG) and the Cargo Incident Notification System (CINS). The practices set out in the Guidelines are intended to improve safety during the carriage of Seed Cake and to ensure that it is declared, packaged and carried properly.

Seed cake must be transported in compliance with the IMDG Code. The new Guidelines include additional precautions to ensure its safe carriage.

The CINS IG Seed Cake Guidelines are available here.*

*Note that the Guidelines were updated in April 2021 as per the subsequent News Alert with updated Guidelines.