Bunker Tank Calibrations

[Ahts]

I change my work from ship to ship as an engineer. On all ships we use traditional method to check quantities in the bunker, and other oil storage tanks. We use sounding tape through the sounding pipes then check the readings against Tank Calbration Book or'Sounding book'.

Any computer software in the market to do this? I understand that I have to enter all the sounding book data first, enabling program to calculate quantity on board.Any comments or ideas are greatly appreciated.
TIA. Ahts

 

[Truckdriver2]

Xcell...

 

[waross]

MSworks version 1 or later.

 

[mshimko]

As mentioned above, I think it would be relatively easy to create a spreadsheet that uses either formulas (for simply geometry tanks) or lookup tables (for irregular tanks).

of course, there's some value to the "paper trail" provided by the current system.

 

[Truckdriver2]

It's rarley that big a data entry task. You will find large slabs of the data linear and you can usually pick the changes in gradient fairly easy off the table. From there it's basic to generate the whole table except for rounded and flared sections. It's not that it's overly hard to generate functions for these sections but generally this requires the data entry which kind of defeats the purpose...

 

[xbunker]

Depending on the where in the world the measurements are done, the gross volume will typically be in gallons, barrels, or cubic meters at at a particular temperature and given density -- so start off the spreadsheet with the headers <tank><density><observed_temp><measurement_reading> and <observed_volume> based on the calibration table. Continue and finish the headers with <VCF> or volume correction factor, and <standard_volume>.

Suggest to make two tables, one for opening readings and one for closing readings. In the spreadsheet have the calculations automatically do the math.

By taking the difference between the opening and closing readings, this will give net standard volume.

Last step is to convert the net standard volume to weight by using a <WCF> or weight correction factor as petroleum products are typically sold by weight in metric ton (MT)

The respective measurement tables for marine fuels are as follows:

To calc. net standard volume multiply observed volume by:
VCF -- with obs.vol in gallons with obs.temp in deg.F : Table 6B

VCF -- with obs.vol in barrels with obs.temp in deg.F : Table 6B

VCF -- with obs.vol in m3 with obs.temp in deg.C : Table 54B

To convert to MT multiply net standard volume by:
WCF -- with net standard volume in gallons or barrels : Table 58

WCF -- with net standard volume in m3 : Table 56