Most scrap-importing countries require a certificate from an approved inspection agency before a cargo ships, stating that the material is the grade declared, contains no explosives or radioactive sources and meets the destination’s conditions. This guide explains the system.
Most scrap-importing countries require a certificate from an approved inspection agency before a cargo ships, stating that the material is the grade declared, contains no explosives or radioactive sources and meets the destination’s conditions. This guide explains the system.
A furnace cannot inspect every piece it charges. A single live shell, pressurised cylinder or orphaned radioactive source in a cargo can kill workers and shut a mill for months, and a cargo that is not the grade sold costs the buyer the difference. Importing governments therefore require the seller, at the port of loading, to have the cargo inspected by an agency they have approved, and to present the certificate at customs on arrival.
The best-known system is India’s pre-shipment inspection certificate (PSIC), issued by agencies registered with the Indian authorities for the ports and countries they cover. Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, Malaysia and others run similar schemes with their own lists of approved inspectors.
The inspector attends loading, confirms the material matches the grade and description in the contract, checks for prohibited items — ammunition, explosives, sealed containers, cylinders, oily or hazardous residues, biological waste — screens for radiation with a portal or handheld monitor, and seals the container or witnesses the bulk loading. The certificate records the container numbers or vessel, the weight, the grade and the inspector’s findings. In many systems the inspector also photographs the load.
Radiation screening is universal. Yards and ports run fixed portal monitors; mills run them at the gate; a cargo that alarms is isolated and the source traced. Caesium, cobalt and americium sources from medical, industrial and oilfield equipment are the usual culprits, and gauges that look like ordinary machinery are the hardest to spot.
Book the inspection agency early — the approved list for the destination is published by that country’s authority; load in the agency’s presence; keep the material clean of anything that would fail; make sure the certificate names match the bill of lading and the invoice exactly, because a mismatch holds the cargo at the destination port. The cost of inspection is small against the cost of a rejected container.