TANK INSPECTION
As the remains of the
UK's Buncefield oil
depot lie folded and
black more than two months
after the site suffered a
massive blast and subsequent
fire, the collapsed tanks serve
as a harsh reminder that the
importance of tank integrity is
underestimated at peril. With
regulations placing ever more
demands on terminal
operators, but with a vast
array of regional and national
variations remaining,
streamlining inspection
operations, whether across
different terminals, or across
different tanks on one site,
can help to raise standards,
cut tank downtime and reduce
costs.
Inspection schedules
depend on a number of
factors, not least a tank's age,
product stored, the tank's
construction material and past
leaks and corrosion records.
Companies specialising in just
one or two particular products
might perhaps be at an
advantage when it comes to
employing a 'one size fits all'
approach to inspection,
particularly if tanks are all
roughly the same age, but the
slightest imperfection in a
weld or in the tank floor or
wall going undetected can
mean the difference between
tank integrity or tank
catastrophe.
Vopak/Rosen
As chemical tanks are smaller
and their contents generally
change more often than oil
products, out of service
inspection of such tanks is
easier to plan in between
contracts, says Jan Nieboer,
manager of the technical
department at Vopak's 89-
tank TTR chemical terminal in
Botlek.
"Right now we are in the
process of reassessing the
way we inspect our tanks in
the Rotterdam area and have
been redeveloping internal
standards so that we can tell
our suppliers how to inspect
them in order to get what we
are looking for in terms of
service."
