CALM MUSIC
VOICE-OVER: The carriage ban entered into force...
on the 1st of march 2020.
Ships are not only forbidden to use high Sulphur fuel...
but they are also not allowed to have this on board.
To enforce these new regulations, inspectors all over the world...
face the challenge of sampling fuel oil from bunker tanks.
The Dutch Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate, the ILT...
has years of experience with checking the sulphur content of in-use fuel.
In 2019 the ILT carried out 26 inspections of various tanks on different ships...
and found a safe and reliable way to sample.
The ILT discovered that sampling via the sounding pipe...
offers the most practical and reliable solution.
But, there is a wide variation in the numbers and location of fuel tanks on board ships.
Situated at the top of the ship with relatively short pipes...
or designed as double bottom tanks.
That is why the ILT developed two methods:
the vacuum method and the flow method.
How do they work?
The vacuum method is based on the principle of under pressure.
A hose is lowered with a weight.
The weight has a sample feedthrough and is conical on both sides.
Once the weight is in the fuel, the sample is collected with a pump.
This method works for tanks with a depth of 8 meters of empty pipe above the fuel.
For deeper tanks, the flow method is more suitable.
This method is based on the principle of the flow-through sample...
which is used in the oil and petrochemical industries.
These are regarded as acceptable methods by ships’ crews.
The sampling can be carried out...
with due observance of the standard safety regulations...
that apply during inspections on board ships.
The samples are taken from the safe zone of the ship.
SHIP SOUNDS AND TALKING PEOPLE
The equipment is made of anti-static, spark-poor material.
To avoid sparks the pump is manual.
As a result of the conical shape of the equipment...
the risk of contamination is limited.
The full set of measuring equipment the ILT has developed for these methods...
costs about 3.000 euros and can be reused for many years.
The ILT hopes these methods can support inspectors around the world...
providing safe, feasible and affordable ways...
to measure sulphur content in bunker tanks.
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