Ultrasonic Safety & Survey Equipments

Thursday 27 March 2014

Renting Ships for Enjoyable Vacations

Water as being the life provider on this planet, is also one which has fascinated humans for a very long time. Rafts were the very first kind of boats known to the human kind. The primitive man joined a couple of planks to make a big platform and take a number of people onboard to travel through the rivers. Since it did not have any roof or any other kind of protection, it was not suitable for long journeys and hence the humans began making bigger boats to carry people and goods at the same time.

Today the world has come far away from such periods and we have boats and yachts which are not only capable to carry a lot of weight, but they are also equipped with the latest technology and surpass a lot of levels when we talk about luxury. These luxury boats and yachts do not come in cheap and hence the business of renting them is on the rise. People who wish to go on an enjoyable cruise and voyage with friends and family can rent them for as long as they wish and probably as long as they can afford.

While the business is a flourishing one and brings in a lot of profits, yet the owner company has to ensure that it is leak free and watertight to the extreme. Hence the need for hatch covers maintenance and watertight integrity testing of every boat and yacht is not just important, it is the most important part to keep the business alive and the vehicles running in perfect condition. In a majority of cases, especially when the customer is new and has no history of captaining a boat, an operator is provided by the company to ensure that the vehicle comes to no harm and most importantly, it does not get lost.

A vehicle can be harmed in many ways and it can be called an art to dock the vehicle as there are no brakes which can work in water as cars do on the road. Even the interior of these vehicles need to be checked for leaks because you never know if a customer used it roughly and created a hole in some place where it can cause greater harm. So, whenever the vehicle comes from a voyage, the ship is checked entirely and even the watertight compartment doors testing is conducted to make sure that the doors are able to be tightly shut. As long as the vehicle remains in immaculate condition, it brings in money and the company manages to grow.

Tuesday 25 March 2014

Watertight Ships for the Safety of Goods

As the world moves head on towards the import and export business at top speed, the demand for more and reliable transport ships is on the high rise. Customers or more specifically the exporters want to be sure that their goods will be transported to the destination safe and sound when in the cargo holds of the transport ships. There are a lot of incidents where the hatch covers of the cargo holds gave birth to leaks and holes without the crew being aware of them and a cargo worth billions of dollars was gone to waste. So, in order to provide complete security to the exporters, the ship’s crew and especially the management has emphasized a lot on hatch cover maintenance and watertight integrity testing.

The testing is the only way to know if there are any holes and leaks in the hatch covers and if the ship’s crew should be troubled by it. Today these tests are conducted by the highly effective and the highly reliable ultrasonic hatch cover tester. This ultrasonic device smells out the leaks like any dog does at the airport and catches a package trying to get onboard a plane when actually it shouldn’t. Similarly the hatch cover tester points out the leaks which are unfound or ignored on the ship. By learning about the presence and the location of these leaks and holes, the crew can rightly inform the captain and let him know of the situation.

If the captain finds the holes less troublesome, he can order the crew to ignore the holes for the moment and carry on with the loading of the goods in the cargo holds and prepare for the voyage. And if, the captain sees a dreadful damage due to the holes and leaks, he can order the crew to delay the loading of the cargo until the ship is treated and is ensured that the holes have been filled and there is no chance of the water to get inside and damage the goods in the cargo holds.

The ultrasonic hatch cover tester is not only limited to find holes in the hatch covers, but it can also be used for the watertight compartment doors testing. Since it is important for the ship to be extremely watertight when it sails, the doors leading to the different compartments should also be checked and made leak free. Some unfortunate ships have disappeared from the map of this world when the compartments got flooded and caused the ship to lose its balance. As the water filled inside the compartments, the ship lost its ability to float and hence was drowned to the depths of the ocean.

Monday 24 March 2014

Watertight Repairs Can Keep Your Ships in Business

The transport industry is busier than ever. The international trade is keeping the industry on a leash and the companies involved in the trade are so busy they barely have time even for upgrading and repairs. Now the sea ports are so busy with the ships coming in and moving out it seems that the entire world relies on the import and export business. The busy schedules are being so enjoyed by the industry that their assets are increasing by leaps and bounds each year and a small shipping company becomes a medium sized company within no time and soon it is also joined in the bigger companies groups.

But being in the transport business is not just about multiplying the assets overnight; the doom which looms over the industry can easily wipe out a company which couldn’t even make itself stable in the industry. Without paying attention to the Hatch cover maintenance and watertight integrity testing a ship can easily become a net floating on the surface of water rather than a reliable vehicle. Have you ever seen a rust form on a vehicle or some metal? If the metal is exposed to the air without water falling on it, rust will appear the next day as you come back to see it. Leave it without applying any remedy, and the rust will start expanding like wildfire and the entire metal sheet will soon like a sheet of rust.

Now think about the ship which is also a combination of metal sheets and is exposed to the highest levels of humidity in the air. Let alone the high humidity levels, it is constantly in contact with water which is filled with very high levels of salts and minerals. This water is even more harmful than acid and can easily fill the metal with rust within seconds and the humidity levels in the air act as a catalyst. Forming of the rust speeds up very quickly and the smallest metal piece exposed to the air soon disappears and a hole is seen in its place.

Unless these holes are repaired, the entire ship will soon be no more a combination of metal sheets but it will be a metal net with more holes and less penetration. In order to stay in shape, a ship does not need to be tested for holes around the hatch covers but it also needs the watertight compartment doors testing so that the inside of the ship also remains safe and no harm comes to the interior and the crew which has to remain present 24/7 on the ship during the voyages.

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Leaks Burst Profit Bubbles

Being in a shipping transport business is no less than a dream comes true. The huge profits reaped by the shipping companies can easily drive any business person crazy and would surely want to own a transport ship. Some call it the business of the elites and they might be correct because it is never too easy to purchase a transport ship. The gigantic ship can cost a fortune and when put in business, the profits fall in the cash registers not just like rain, but like thunderstorms. Isn’t it lucrative? But let us discuss the factor where all this dream bubble bursts. The leaking hatch covers and the leaking body parts of a transport ship.

Yes it’s true that even the tiniest hole can be the biggest disaster of a profitable voyage. No matter how good or expensive hatch covers you have installed in your transport ship, sooner or later there will be a hole in it and it will be needing a repair. When in this business, the Hatch cover maintenance and watertight integrity testing plays a very important role. Unless the hatch covers are maintained perfectly, the leaks in them can do a huge damage to the goods inside the cargo holds. At this point the company starts generating losses rather than profits because as per the global laws about shipping, the goods are insured when handed to a shipping company. And if anything goes wrong during the shipping process, the shipping company has to reimburse the cost of the product to the customer.

Now coming out of the cargo holds, let’s discuss the other damages caused to a ship due to the leaks. The compartment doors of a ship, it may be a transport ship or a luxury ship, are always made watertight. There are several reasons for it to be watertight and the most important reason is to block out all types of water from entering the ship’s compartments. The highly humid air is present everywhere when out in the open seas and oceans. It is impossible to block it out but as the ship can (and it does) encounter a storm during the voyage, the high tide and the rain can splash the ship highly with water. And if the compartment doors are leaking, there is no way this extra water can be kept out and the ship would soon be filled with water making it unstable and causing it to turn turtle, lean over one side or even sink entirely. Hence there is no denying that a ship or every kind also requires watertight compartment doors testing on a regular basis.

Monday 17 March 2014

Intense Testing Ensures the Ship Remains Leak Free

The increasing numbers of transport ships all over the world mean one thing, global trade is increasing incredulously. The demand of goods to be transported from one country to another is the reason why the transport industry or more specifically the shipping transport industry exists. But due to some problems (topping the list the leaks in hatch covers and other parts) the shipping transport industry is under heavy criticism. Business people who are regular customers of these companies need assurance that their goods would not be damaged during the voyages. Although the goods are insured and they get paid for the damages, this may be a good compensation for the cash registers but is never a good thing with the company’s reputation of those business people.

The first step to ensure that customer’s goods are not destroyed through leaks during the shipment process is the intense hatch cover maintenance and watertight integrity testing. Unless the crew knows about the location of the leaks and the type of repairs which would be necessary to apply for stopping them, no corrective action can be taken and the leaks would grow consistently. As leaks continue to emerge and the holes continue to grow bigger, the condition of the ship’s body and the hatch covers starts deteriorating. As the holes continue to grow bigger, larger amounts of water start entering the cargo holds and more damage starts taking place inside.

Leaking water entering the ship not only creates trouble in the cargo holds but it starts spreading to the other components. As the ship has a net of wires running all over to provide power supply to the moving components such as the hatch covers and to the lights, water on the inside can get deeper into the cables. Presence of water in the cable ducts can easily spark a short circuit. It can even trip the breakers in the main switch board or can ruin some machinery or even worse, spark a small flame which can soon go out of control and create a huge fire.

To ensure that the cables are in no danger of any electric problem, the need for cable transit areas watertight testing is also compulsory. Not only is it harmed by water, it can also be harmed by the humidity in the air which never dies out in the oceans and seas. As the cables are completely protected from water and the humidity in the air, there is no chance of any mishap happening due to it. Some ships have been destroyed during their journey when their electric circuit caught fire and spread it all over. Those shipping companies not only had to end up paying a lot of claims for the goods destroyed onboard, they also had to bear a huge loss by repairing the ship or buying a new one.

Tuesday 11 March 2014

Never Compromise On Cable Transit Areas Watertight Testing

Transport ships are the biggest need of the modern age. The global trade today is all a reality because of these ships which have made it possible to carry tons of weight at the same time and make successful deliveries. Somehow these ships suffer a bad omen which is none other than rust, leaks and the frequent storms they have to face at sea. However, these things can’t be avoided but with the frequent hatch cover maintenance and watertight integrity testing, the damage caused to the goods by these bad omens can be reduced.

Using the ultrasonic hatch cover tester, the ship’s crew can unearth a lot of holes and leaks in the ships hatch covers and other parts too. These leaks and holes in the hatch covers and different parts are the only way where water can find a way to get in. Using the ultrasonic hatch cover tester is easy and anyone can use it successfully by reading the user manual or watching a person do it once. Finding the leaks is the first step to make a ship leak proof and weather proof.

Apart from testing the tightness of the hatch covers and other moving parts of the ship, the cable transit areas are also worth testing for the tightness. Since the cables are spread all over the ship’s structure, if water enters these cables there is a huge risk of short circuit which could result in loss of power or even an explosion. Anything unfortunate that happens in a ship during a voyage could result in a huge loss. Hence the need for the ultrasonic cable transit areas watertight testing cannot be out ruled even if the deadline is crossing its limit. What would you do with a stranded ship weighing thousands of tons and carrying an extra thousand tons in the middle of the ocean?

Pulling it to the dock would cost more than it would have cost to have the repairs done in time. Some of the ship owners have had the nerve of delaying their test even when the signs for tests and a repair were obvious. The ship owners have had to not only pay a lot of money for the pulling of the ship to the dock, but they also have had to pay a lot of money for the repairs and the damage done to their name in the corporate world because they have not only had to miss the deadline, but also got a bda name for owning a ship that broke down.

Friday 7 March 2014

A Huge Shipment Lost Due To Leaking Hatch Covers

Many goods have been destroyed during voyages on the transport ships. The main reason for all the destruction is the same, leaking hatch covers. Leaks in hatch covers can appear any time and without any warning. Since the hatch covers are made of metal, the highest humidity levels of the ocean clearly make rust appear on the tiniest metal spot which gets exposed to it. There is absolutely no permanent chance of stopping leaks to appear, but they can be treated within time. Since the rough treatment which a transport ship faces every time it is being loaded or unloaded with goods, the protective paint wears off and exposes the metal beneath.

The only way to stop the goods from being destroyed onboard the ship is by the hatch cover maintenance and watertight integrity testing. The test in conducted by the ultrasonic hatch cover tester which is capable to point out even the tiniest hole in the hatch covers or anywhere around it. The test is a simple one and doesn’t take an eternity like the hose test. The generator is turned on and placed inside the cargo hold and sealed by closing the hatch covers. With the help of the receiver, the entire area is scanned and if there is silence during the entire scanning process, it becomes clear that there are no holes in it. As soon as the receiver comes above a hole, the ultrasonic pulse is heard in it and the tester becomes sure that the hole is automatically found.

When the ship’s managers fail to take corrective actions at the right time, water not only damages the goods inside the ship’s cargo holds but also the walls and the floor of the cargo holds. Wherever water reaches, it starts increasing humidity levels. If it comes in contact with any naked metal, it starts rusting it abruptly. Soon the walls and the other areas start catching rust and making holes or creating leaks in the other areas of the ship’s structure. Most probably the easily affected areas are the pivots such as joints and hinges. As they are constantly under use the protective paint rips or cracks away very soon.

Many a times water has been seen flowing inside the passenger or the crew compartments especially when the ship is caught in a violent storm. Not only then it has to face the rain falling from above, but the high tide also manages to throw a lot of water on the ship with ferocity. In that case the weak points give way and the water manages to get inside the compartments without any hindrance. Now if the ship is being checked regularly for watertight compartment doors testing, these weak spots are automatically unearthed and the necessary steps can be taken without facing the agony in a storm.

Thursday 6 March 2014

Run Ultrasonic Tightness Test on a Voyage

A lot of business people eye the shipping industry with envy because of the huge profits it reaps. While there is no denying to the fact that a shipping company has one of the biggest earnings a month any business could have, there are many problems which are faced constantly by it. The first and the biggest problem faced by it is the rust. Rust is a problem which can never be wiped out unless a ship starts getting built of plastic and that is certainly never going to happen. Rust appears easily on the ship’s different parts and it eats away the thick layer of the metal and creates a hole or many holes in it.

There is no way to keep rust from appearing on a ship’s body, but there are ways to repair the holes once they have appeared. The most affected part of the ship is the hatch covers and it is important to ensure hatch cover maintenance and watertight integrity testing on a regular basis. This testing provides information about the location of holes. Knowing where the holes have appeared helps in creating a strategy to implement the repair work. Since applying the repairs to a massive sized ship is not a day’s work, the management has to schedule the right time for sending the ship to the workshop.

A lot of shipments have been destroyed by water during the voyages. It happens when the holes get big enough to let the water flow inside without control. As the water starts entering the cargo holds it starts wetting the goods and then there is no limit to the damages that can be done by it. Apart from damaging the goods, presence of water inside a ship can be the most dangerous thing. Since there are heavy cables all around the ship like a net controlling and providing electricity to the different components and areas of the ship, when water enters the ship’s body it also gets inside the cable transit areas.

Presence of water inside the cable transit areas means there is a possibility of an electric short circuit. Hence there is no denying to the importance of cable transit areas watertight testing. This test can make the crew aware of the weaker areas of the cable transit paths and they can learn about the locations from where water can enter. Applying the repairs to these cable transit areas is not a huge task and can be done by the maintenance staff of the ship. It can be even done while the ship is sailing so the test can be easily conducted even when the voyage has started.

Wednesday 5 March 2014

Wipe Out Leaks with the Ultrasonic Hatch Cover Tester

The biggest industry is under constant criticism due to the lack of security of the goods inside its cargo holds. In many cases the goods are getting wet and damaged during the voyages. The reason for the goods to get wet during the voyages is the leaking hatch covers. The lack of hatch cover maintenance and watertight integrity testing makes room for rust to grow and spread all over the hatch covers. As the rust spreads over the hatch covers it starts eating away the metal creating holes which weaken the tightness of the hatch covers. As these covers are weakened, they start losing their tightness and the cargo holds no longer remain water tight.

The problem of leaking ship parts is not new. In fact, this problem has prevailed since the very first ship was made. In the olden times the ships were made of wood but still the hinges and the other pivotal parts of the ship were made of iron. The iron would catch rust quickly and then there was no stopping it until it created a hole big enough for the water to seep inside. In the olden times, there was no means of ultrasonic hatch cover testing and the only way to test for holes in a ship was to put more water on it.

Using pails of water to douse the ship completely with water, the holes were found but the huge amount of water created more rust on the ship’s metal parts and hence they grew weaker. As today’s ships are made of metal, it is never advised to use the old method because the risk of creating rust to the parts where it does not exist is heightened. The new rust starts working on its own and it starts spreading to the areas which were clean before the water hose testing.

Apart from just focusing on the hatch covers, it is also important to keep an out for the rust to form on other components such as the doors and other metal objects. With the ultrasound watertight compartment doors testing, the holes can be found easily where water hose testing completely fails because water can never stand still on a door and would simply flood the compartment. With the help of the ultrasonic leak detector, the doors can be easily checked and the chance of water entering the other compartments is easily wiped out.