Oil Tankers Should Never Leak

As the world relies on petroleum products to fuel their vehicles, the increase in population has increased the demand for cars, motor bikes and public transports. This increase of demand has inadvertently increased the demand for petroleum products and there is now more need for refineries and oil digging. When the crude oil is pumped up, it is sent to the refineries where the crude oil is filtered and the components are removed and placed in their rightful storage tanks. After the oil components are completely separated and they are ready to be transported to the public, they are filled in the tankers which carry them all the way to the cities. As the refineries are situated many miles outside the cities and towns, the snail’s pace of the tankers takes many days to complete the journey.

Since we all know that petrol is very reactive to the air and it creates fumes, it starts evaporating in the form of fumes and the level can get very low. The tankers that are carrying the petrol need to be completely air tight so that the petrol would not react and not evaporate. To ensure that the tanker is always airtight, the testing process known as the hatch cover ultrasonic tightness testing is run in a scheduled routine to find if any leaks have emerged. Due to the testing any leak minor or major is identified quickly and the repair is applied.

The process begins when the tanker arrives from a journey and is completely empty. The ultrasonic generator is turned on and placed inside the tanker. After closing the lid of the tanker the scanner is run all over the body of the tanker. If there is a leak in any part of the body, as soon as the scanner comes over the leak the ultrasonic waves that are escaping through it are picked up. The area is marked and the person proceeds to the other areas until all the holes have been located and marked. After the markings have been applied the tanker is sent to the workshop where the holes are filled and the leaking is stopped.

Before proclaiming the tanker as leak free, the process of checking tightness of hatch with ultrasound is run inside the workshop. If there is still sound detected on the scanner the matter is investigated and the leak is removed. Only after complete satisfaction of the staff and with no leak detected on the device the tanker is sent back to make another journey. Since it is carrying inflammable material, there is no chance authorities are willing to take the risk of letting a leaking tanker cross its compound.