MARINE

 

Marvito services has established a highly qualified team of scientists and engineers who can provide assistance with a wide range of marine incidents ranging from fire and explosion investigations, cargo problems and advice on dangerous goods, through to materials failure analysis and corrosion on board.

With offices in key locations across the UK & Ireland and a presence in Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore, we can provide assistance 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.

OUR MARINE EXPERTISE INCLUDES 

Cargo Spoilage 

Many agricultural cargoes such as maize (corn), wheat, soybeans and seedcake are shipped in bulk. Such cargoes have a limited safe storage period before their quality deteriorates. The subject of storage of agricultural cargoes is a complex one with many variables to consider.

It is widely accepted that the three most important factors affecting the transportation of agricultural products are moisture content, temperature and the cargo’s age. It can come as a surprise that the same soybeans that can be stored for over two years at a moisture content of 11% and a temperature of 21˚C, would deteriorate after just over six weeks at a moisture content of 14% and a temperature of 27˚C.

For this reason, most agricultural commodities are dried and cooled immediately after harvest. High moisture content promotes microbiological activity and increases the risk of self-heating during storage and transit. Similarly, high temperatures increase microbial growth and pest activity. Ineffective fumigation, meanwhile, can lead to pest infestations.

Ship’s holds, devoid of all the tools available to a silo manager, are ill-suited to the prolonged storage of agricultural products. To compound matters, cargoes are often not homogenous and might comprise different parcels of varying quality from several silos and warehouses. Pockets of damage can occur within a hold when a poorer quality parcel is loaded amongst an otherwise sound cargo. Consequently, any variability within a cargo can lead to localised self-heating, infestations and damage.

While there is nothing a ship’s crew can do improve a cargo, there are several things it can do to prevent or minimise damage while the cargo is its care. This includes not heating the cargo, not allowing it to become wetted, ventilating the cargo when appropriate opportunities arise, but also not ventilating it at inappropriate times.

CRANE & GANTRY COLLAPSE

We have a team of qualified engineers and scientists, who are experienced in investigating a wide range of maritime and offshore structural failures, including crane and gantry collapses.

Our material scientists, mechanical and structural engineers will gather evidence at the scene and carry out structural back-analysis, to investigate the cause of the collapse. We can mobilise rapidly to coordinate and oversee urgent surveys, can carry out the sampling of damaged components (if necessary), and organise any subsequent analysis in our laboratory, to assess why the collapse occurred. If our findings point to a materials failure, our material scientists consider whether the correct materials have been used, how the different component parts have been, or should have been combined to maximise the resultant properties of the material, and how those components are likely to behave in the chosen application and environment.

If you have experienced a gantry or crane-related incident on board a vessel at sea, or at port, and need an investigator to attend promptly, Hawkins has the resources to attend quickly and the expertise to provide robust root cause analysis. We can also assist with remediation and risk prevention advise.

HANDLING & CARRIAGE OF OIL AND CHEMICAL CARGOES

The trade and transportation of bulk liquid cargoes involves complex operations within the various shore terminals, storage vessels (STS: Ship-To-Ship transfer) and the tanker vessels that load, carry and discharge the cargoes. These voyages may involve the transfer and carriage of a single grade of cargo or multiple grades at the same time.

Whilst good industry practice, recommendations and guidance have been developed for the safe handling, measurement, sampling and testing of such cargoes, quantitative losses (physical loss of volume or weight) do occur during these operations.  It is important to identify whether the reported quantity loss is an actual physical loss of volume/weight or merely a “paper” loss.  A physical loss can be a result of spillage, incorrect transfers, leaking valves or an inadequate line displacement whilst a “paper” loss may be a result of incorrect calculations including, for example, using different Volume Correction Factor (VCF) Tables, tank calibration tables or density changes as tested and recorded.

Changes in the quality characteristics can occur where the quality in the receiving tanks, be that in shore tanks or ship’s tanks, is not the same as reported in the tanks of origin and/or does not meet an agreed specification.  Hawkins can determine whether a change is due to physical changes in the characteristics and components in the cargo such as contamination by another cargo, a chemical component, a deleterious material and/or a visible change such as colour, haze, observed water and/or particulate matter.  We can also investigate whether a change is a result of using different test methods or explained by test variables such repeatability and reproducibility.

There is a series of further questions that may need to be considered where there is a physical loss of quantity or an actual change in the quality characteristics of the cargo, such as:

• What is nature and extent of contamination and/or loss?
• What reasonable mitigation options and strategies need to be considered and implemented to manage the loss and reduce costs?
• What was the cause of contamination or physical loss and how and at what stage did it occur?
• Was there a lack of due diligence in the terminal operations or on the vessel?