INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER LESSORS
IICL TB 011, April 2013
Title: Floor Coating as an IICL Repair Method
Reference: This TB addresses the Use of Coatings as a Floor Repair
Method
Clarification:
Container floors are sometimes coated at the time of new production or while the containers are in service. The
in-service coatings are applied to meet special shipper requirements or as a repair method for obscuring staining
or other floor contamination.
When used as a repair method, coatings have sometimes been applied over extremely oil contaminated floors
obscuring conditions that could degrade the floor and, with the likely failure of the coating, result in slippery
and unsafe forklift operating conditions or cargo contamination.
Once a coating is applied it is not possible to determine the nature of the floor damage that is hidden under the
coating, the level of contamination, or if adequate surface preparation and cleaning were done to prepare the
surface for coating; the IICL does not recommend floor coating as a repair method over any level of floor
contamination.
With the release of this technical bulletin, floor repairs made by coating are non-conforming repairs, and their
acceptance or rejection is left to the discretion of the container owner.
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INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER LESSORS
SEE PHOTOS BELOW
After coating it is not possible to
determine previous condition of floor and
contamination levels
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INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER LESSORS
Examples of floor coating failure creating potentially unsafe conditions
IICL TB 011 was prepared under the supervision of the IICL Technology Committee.
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