Ultrasonic Safety & Survey Equipments

Thursday 1 August 2013

Ensure the Ship Is Weather Proof before Sailing

Why has the hatch cover ultrasonic tightness testing become such an important factor today? While most of the ship owners and managers are keen to make their ships leak free from the water, they often forget that the ship also needs to be weather proof. It should not only be able to prevent the water drops from entering inside the ship, it should also be able to block the air from entering inside the ship’s cargo area. The ocean’s air is heavily moist and is equally dangerous as water is for the cargo.

In most of the cases the ship manages to emerge safely from a storm in the sea, but when the hatch covers are removed the entire cargo area is completely filled with moisture due to which a majority of the goods are wasted. Moisture is a curse especially if the transport ship is a bulk transport ship. The bulk transport ship is designed to carry immense weight and mostly raw materials which are simply dumped inside the cargo area without any packaging. The bulk transport ships are used to transport large quantities of:
  • unprocessed minerals
  • crude oil, petrol and other petroleum products
  • livestock
  • wheat
  • fruits and a thousand other items that are used in our lives
When a ship is sailing on the sea, there is no telling what it could be facing. At times the sea turns violent without any prior warning. The waves rise
higher than a ship’s height and start lashing it from all sides. In this case the ship is completely doused with water and if the hatch covers or any other part of the ship are leaking, then water enters from those leaks.

Most of the time, a ship has to spend extra time out in the sea. The reasons can be various. When the ship is out in the sea there is no telling how much humidity it would require to face. Every day the temperature changes and with it, the humidity level rises up and falls. To make sure that the ship’s cargo areas can withstand the humidity, the tightness testing of hatches with ultrasonic equipment is conducted.

Usually this test is already conducted before filling it with the cargo because if the hatch covers are opened out in the sea, the goods inside would get a full blast of the humidity. So the managers and ship owners who are sensible, never compromise on the test and always maintain the policy of delivering the best quality goods to their customers.

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