ChandlerWhat is an IMPA code?
An IMPA code is a six-digit number that identifies one item a ship might order, from a bag of rice to a pipe fitting. The codes come from the IMPA Marine Stores Guide (MSG), published by the International Marine Purchasing Association, a UK-based non-profit founded in 1978 whose members include ship owners, ship managers and suppliers.
The code means the ship, the purchaser and the chandler are talking about the same item, in the same unit, in any port. A line that says 330158 is one specific lifebuoy, so nobody has to ring the ship to ask which one.
- More than 50,000 codes in 34 sections.
- The current edition is the 8th edition (2023), which changed more than 40,000 existing codes and added over 3,000 new ones, according to IMPA.
- The six-digit format itself has not changed in over 40 years.
How the six digits work
Read an IMPA code as three pairs of digits:
| Digits | Meaning | In 330158 |
|---|---|---|
| First two | Section (the main product group) | 33 Safety equipment |
| Middle two | Sub-group within the section | 01 Life jackets and lifebuoys |
| Last two | The individual item | 58 Lifebuoy over 2.5 kg, USCG approved |
You will see the same code written as 330158, 33 01 58 or 33.01.58. They are the same item. Each code also carries a unit of measure (pieces, a 200 m coil, a kilogram), and a unit mismatch between the requisition and the quote is a common cause of wrong deliveries.
The 34 sections of the IMPA Marine Stores Guide
The first two digits tell you which section an item belongs to. These are the 34 sections as listed in the IMPA catalogue search that ShipServ runs in partnership with IMPA.
| Code | Section | Code | Section |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00 | Provisions | 51 | Brushes and mats |
| 11 | Welfare items | 53 | Lavatory equipment |
| 15 | Cloth and linen products | 55 | Cleaning material and chemicals |
| 17 | Tableware and galley utensils | 59 | Pneumatic and electrical tools |
| 19 | Clothing | 61 | Hand tools |
| 21 | Rope and hawsers | 63 | Cutting tools |
| 23 | Rigging equipment and general deck items | 65 | Measuring tools |
| 25 | Marine paint | 67 | Metal sheets, bars, etc. |
| 27 | Painting equipment | 69 | Screws and nuts |
| 31 | Safety protective gear | 71 | Pipes and tubes |
| 33 | Safety equipment | 73 | Pipe and tube fittings |
| 35 | Hose and couplings | 75 | Valves and cocks |
| 37 | Nautical equipment | 77 | Bearings |
| 39 | Medicine | 79 | Electrical equipment |
| 45 | Petroleum products | 81 | Packing and jointing |
| 47 | Stationery | 85 | Welding equipment |
| 49 | Hardware | 87 | Machinery equipment |
Section 00 Provisions covers food and drink, including meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, coffee and tea, soft drinks, and alcohol and tobacco. Some third-party lists show extra sections, such as a "slop chest" heading; the official count is 34.
IMPA vs ISSA: what is the difference?
There are two coding systems in ship supply, and they are not interchangeable.
| IMPA Marine Stores Guide | ISSA Ship Stores Catalogue | |
|---|---|---|
| Published by | International Marine Purchasing Association (founded 1978) | International Shipsuppliers & Services Association (founded 1955) |
| Perspective | Built from the buyer's, the purchaser's, side | Built from the ship supplier's side |
| Current edition | 8th edition, 2023 | 2020 (Ship Stores, plus a separate Provisions & Bonded Stores catalogue) |
| Code format | Six digits: section, sub-group, item | ISSA's own numbering; codes differ from IMPA |
| Where you see it | Most international requisitions and e-procurement platforms | Used by many ship suppliers, often alongside IMPA |
The same product can have different codes in the two systems, so buyer and chandler should agree up front which one a requisition uses. The Marine Stores Guide licence terms say that cross-referencing IMPA codes to the ISSA catalogue may breach copyright, and there is no official converter.
How to get the IMPA catalogue (and why there is no free PDF)
Search for "IMPA marine stores guide pdf" and you will find lots of downloads. They are unlicensed copies, mostly of old editions, so the codes are out of date. The codes are copyright Fuji Trading Co. and published jointly with IMPA. The legal options are:
- The printed book, produced every five years and sold through IMPA's distributors.
- MSG Data, a licensed Excel file of the codes, updated every six months. Licence holders also get MSG Online to search and export items. Ship owners and ship suppliers have separate licences.
- The free IMPA catalogue search at impa-catalogue.shipserv.com, for looking up a single code or browsing a section.
Details and prices are on the official site, marinestoresguide.com. If you publish codes on your own website or catalogue, IMPA also requires a Publisher Licence.
IMPA codes in a chandler's daily work
Requisitions are rarely that tidy. On a working chandler's desk you see:
- Many lines arrive without a code, as free text, a brand name or a local name: "paint brush 2 inch", "Lipton yellow label".
- Provisions are often ordered by description rather than by code, because brand, origin and season matter more than the number.
- Old codes keep turning up, because a vessel is working from an older book or data set.
- Units do not match: the ship asks for pieces, the supplier sells by the box.
So the work is matching each line, coded or not, to something your suppliers can price, in the right unit. In our experience that is where most of the quoting time goes.
How Chandler handles IMPA codes
Chandler is ship chandler software built with a working chandler. When an inquiry arrives as an email, PDF, Excel sheet or photo, AI reads every line, picks up any IMPA code on it, and matches the line to your own catalogue and past orders, including local and alternative names. Lines it is not sure about are flagged for a person to check.
Each item in your catalogue stores its IMPA code and category, selling unit and carton size, so the match improves with every order. Chandler does not ship a copy of the IMPA catalogue: your catalogue holds the codes your team uses, and if you want the full MSG data, you license it from IMPA. See the Data & Item Manager and Quoting modules.