The International Maritime Organization (IMO) salt water ballast tank coatings regulation titled Performance Standard for Protective Coatings (PSPC) will be effective beginning July 1, 2008, for all ships in excess of 500 gross register tonnage (GRT). This regulation requires rigorous inspection of coating properties, including coating thickness, and it introduces a new performance standard for dry film thickness - the PSPC 90/10 rule. The Elcometer 4563 coating thickness gauge is fully compliant with the new IMO PSPC regulations.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) salt water ballast tank coatings regulation titled Performance Standard for Protective Coatings (PSPC) will be effective beginning July 1, 2008, for all ships in excess of 500 gross register tonnage (GRT). This regulation requires rigorous inspection of coating properties, including coating thickness, and it introduces a new performance standard for dry film thickness - the PSPC 90/10 rule. This rule states that 90% of all thickness measurements shall be greater than or equal to the nominal dry film thickness (NDFT) and that none of the remaining 10% measurements shall be below 0.9 x NDFT.

The Elcometer 4563 coating thickness gauge is fully compliant with the new IMO PSPC regulations. It gives the user PSPC results for the 90/10 rule as a “pass or fail” as measurements are taken. The gauge recently has been improved to include memory gauges with Bluetooth® wireless technology and ElcoMaster Software™, which allows users to produce professional inspection reports instantly.

For more information, e-mailsales@elcometer.comor visitwww.elcometer.com.