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.

Checking Tightness of Hatch with Ultrasound Hatch Cover Tester Is a Routine on Navy Ships

One of the biggest prized possessions of the United States is its navy. It is one of the biggest among all the other countries and it comprises of the most advanced ships, submarines and staff. Comprising of hundreds of small and many gigantic ships, it houses thousands of troops who spend most of their careers out in the oceans protecting the boundaries from all unwanted menaces. On the governmental note, managing the huge fleet is not an easy task. The ships and all other transports used by the naval staff should be faultless. Because of their nature of work, every machine is at risk of corrosion because of the salty and humid air of the oceans.

The navy ships have hatch covers just like a normal commercial transport ship. The only difference between the two is that the transport ship carries consumable goods in its cargo holds while the navy ships carry missiles and bombs in its cargo holds. Like every other ship out in the ocean, the hatch covers of the navy ships also develop leaks which can be very dangerous especially when the cargo holds are filled with explosives. To stay ahead of any disturbance in their warfare activity, the Hatch Cover Ultrasonic Tightness Testing has been made a daily routine.

A special team has been assigned the task to run the test on every ship on a daily basis. This keeps the ships clean and free from corrosion at all times. Since a navy’s ship is equipped with much more things than a civilian ship, the testing procedure can take a lot more time than on a civilian’s ship. There are a thousand movable parts that need to be checked and oiled regularly to ward of corrosion. The different parts of the ship are tested for leaks, and the cabins are also checked for leaks on a regular basis.

Protecting the explosives is a very crucial task of the crew on board. No leak can be accepted in the cargo hold that comprises of explosives and the fighter planes. Any wetness can easily cause it to malfunction which would be a disaster in times of emergency. The checking of tightness of hatch with ultrasound is even done twice a day if there are any doubts of leaks emerging after the first test has been conducted. Usually leaks occur due to the humid air, water and the cracks that appear from the wear and tear caused by the moving of cargo or loading and unloading. If any cargo is moved from one hatch to another, the officers may ask for the test to be conducted again just to be sure that nothing has been damaged.

Tightness of Hatch with Ultrasound Slashes Time Wasted By Manual Methods

Leaking doors, walls and ceilings, these are often shown as the aftermath of destruction in many movies. They may be a good thing to display horror, but when it becomes a reality, the devastating results are much scarier than the ones we see and enjoy on the screens. Millions of dollars wasted, and the irreplaceable human lives that are put at risk, is something that no one would enjoy as a reality. But unfortunately, despite many efforts and laws implemented by the governments many ship owners and managers do not may much heed.

Leaks in a transport start from the hatch covers and then spread on the entire ship. Since the cargo hatch covers are used to most, they are the first ones to get damaged by the wear and tear. They develop holes and cracks and then start leaking. That is why it is always best to check tightness of hatch with ultrasound. By using the ultrasound, the process becomes easy and requires less time to do it. In the past when there was no concept of the ultrasound device, the methods to do so were very tough.

Many resources were required to conduct a test which easily cost a lot of money. The first thing that was required was ample amount of water. Water was pumped through high pressure pumps by powerful motors. The electricity cost in this process was very high. Then a team of trainer personnel was required to conduct the test on the entire ship. The bigger the ship was, the higher were the costs. Apart from the money factor that was required to conduct a single test, the time required was more than affordable. It could easily take weeks for the test to complete and then came the process of repairs. To apply the repairs, additional weeks were required and the entire process easily stretched to a month or even more.

But now with the ultrasound gadget available, hatch cover ultrasonic tightness testing has made it very easy to find leaks. No matter how big the ship is and how many cargo holds it has, it is just a matter of minutes to complete the test on one cargo hold and then proceed to another. In this way checking the tightness only takes a short time and the bigger part of the time pie chart is still dedicated to the repair works on the hatch covers.