Advanced Training in Chemical

Tanker Cargo Operations

 COURSE SCOPE
• In particular, during the course, there will be: e Familiarization with the
equipment, instrumentation an controls used for cargo handling on a
chemical tanker.
• A greater awareness of the need of proper planning, the use of
checklists and the time scales involved in the various cargo handling
operations.
• An enhanced awareness to apply proper and safe procedures at all times
when carrying out the various operations on board a chemical tanker.
• An acquisition of experience in identifying operational problems and
solving them
• An improvement in the ability to make decisions which promote
safety and protect the marine environment.
• An increased ability to plan and co-ordinate actions during emergencies.
 TYPES OF CHEMICAL TANKER
• A modem chemical tanker is primarily designed to carry some of the several
hundred hazardous products now covered by the IMO Bulk Chemical Codes. The
following general types of chemical carriers have developed since the trade began:

• PRODUCT / CHEMICAL TANKERS: Of similar size to parcel tankers but with fewer
cargo tanks, mostly of coated steel rather than stainless, and less sophisticated pump
and line arrangements. Such ships carry the less difficult chemicals, and also trade
extensively with clean oil products.

• SOPHISTICATED PARCEL CHEMICAL TANKERS: Typically up to 40,000 tones deadweight

with multiple small cargo tanks - up to 54 - each with an individual pump and a
dedicated pipeline, to carry small parcels of high grade chemicals. These ships have
a significant proportion of the cargo tanks made with stainless steel, allowing maximum
flexibility to carry cargoes that need their quality safeguarded.

• SPECIALISED CHEMICAL CARRIERS: Small to medium sized ships, often on dedicated

trades and usually carrying a single cargo such as an acid, molten sulphur, molten
phosphorus, methanol, fruit juice, palm oil and wine. Cargo tanks are coated or
stainless steel according to the trade.
 CHEMICAL CARGOES
• A chemical tanker is primarily designed for the carriage of dangerous Chemicals in bulk.
• These chemicals are listed in the IMO Bulk Chemical Codes, for example: Sodium
hydroxide solution (caustic soda sol.)
• Ch 17 of IBC code has a list of chemicals which can be carried on chemical tankers &
Ch 18 has a list of cargoes which can be carried on tankers other than chemical
tankers.
• As per their pollution category cargoes are categorized as X, Y, Z where as O.S (other
substances).do not have a pollution risk-these categories are explained later.
• 3 In addition to the cargoes listed in the Codes, chemical tankers may carry a wide
variety of other liquid products which would normally be considered to be unrelated to
chemicals, such as:
1. Fruit juice
2. Water
3. Molasses
4. Animal and vegetable oils
5. Clean petroleum products and lubricating oils
• A chemical tanker may carry dangerous chemicals and all products tanker cargoes, but
that a product tanker is limited to carry products and chemicals which are not identified
in the Codes as dangerous.
 BRIEF HISTORY
• Organic and inorganic chemicals were first synthesized on an industrial scale using coal, limestone, cellulose or molasses as raw
materials in the early 1900s. The first petrochemical plants were developed in the United States in the 1920s, in tandem with the early
oil refineries. At first, chemicals were transported in bottles or drums on dry cargo ships. As the demand for chemicals increased, the need was
felt for a ship dedicated to the carriage of chemicals in bulk. Accordingly, small tankers specially designed and constructed for the carriage of
acids were built during the early 1950's the cargo tanks of which were made of special alloy steel, strengthened for cargo densities up
to 2.0 kg/l.
• Bulk shipment of liquid chemicals began in the mid- 1940s using standard oil product tankers. At about the same time, some
traditional cargo ships were equipped with deep tanks suitable for carrying vegetable oils as part of their liner cargo service. The first
tanker to be specially designed to carry chemicals in bulk was the Marine Dow-Chem, a twin-screw steam turbine ship built in 1954 in
the USA.
• Since that time, the range of chemicals shipped in bulk has increased enormously and a special class of ships has been developed to
meet this need - the chemical tanker. Most early chemical tankers were slightly modified product tankers, in which the main variation
was coating of the cargo tanks. Although many of the products shipped could be carried quite safely in uncoated mild steel tanks, the
need to maintain product quality, to minimise the potential for discoloration, and to facilitate tank cleaning between cargoes led to
• tank surfaces being coated with an impervious material.
• As the shipment of bulk chemicals developed, different countries involved with the trade developed regulations to minimize the risk to the
ship, its crew and the environment, and applied them to their own ships and ships trading to their ports. These regulations were not an
the same, and it was extremely difficult for a ship and its crew to comply with them all. To establish an international standard for the
safe design, construction and equipment of chemical tankers,
• IMO developed the Bulk Chemical Codes. It was a major step forward. A ship that complies with the IMO Codes is issued with a Certificate of
Fitness that is recognized internationally, and enables the ship to trade worldwide carrying the cargoes for which it is approved.
• The cargoes now carried in these ships range from petrochemicals used as feedstock for plastics or synthetic rubbers and fibers,
industrial acids and alkalis, alcohols and solvents, highly refined lubricating oils and lubricating oil additives, to detergents, animal and
vegetable oils, and edible products such as fruit juices or wine. Furthermore, certain refined petroleum products that were Previously
considered to be oils are now classified as chemicals under IMO marine pollution or toxicity regulations, and must only be carried
by chemical tankers.
• In order to carry chemicals of high purity, coating techniques were developed for cargo tanks of mild steel.
• A modern chemical tanker has a large number of cargo tanks designed for the carriage of a wide range of chemicals. The cargo tanks section of
these ships is normally subdivided into some stainless steel tanks and some coated mild steel tanks. Each of these tanks is normally served by
its own independent pipeline system and normally contains its own deep- well pump.
• Chemical tankers may be engaged on dedicated or parcel trades. In the former, a tanker would be engaged in carrying the same type of cargo
on every voyage while in the latter instance she would carry different grades on probably every subsequent voyage.
 CARGOES IN CHEMICAL TANKER
1. Petrochemicals
2. Alcohols and carbohydrates
3. Vegetable and animal oils and fats
4. Inorganic chemicals
 CHEMICALS
• Petrochemicals: Petrochemicals are organic products derived wholly or partly from crude
oil, natural gas or coal. Examples of petrochemicals: Solvents , Aromatics , Intermediates or
refined products
• Alcohols and carbohydrates: The group of alcohols and carbohydrates includes
products which may be produced by fermentation, such as: Liquor, Wine , Molasses

• Vegetable and animal oils and fats: Vegetable and animal oils and fats are products
derived from seeds of plants and from the fat of animals, including fish. Examples of vegetable
and animal oils and fats: Soya bean oil , Cottonseed oil , Lard and lard oil , Beef and mutton
tallow , Whale oil , Sardine oil , Cod oil
• Inorganic chemicals: Inorganic chemicals are products which are not of organic origin.
Examples of inorganic chemicals are: Sulphuric acid , Phosphoric acid, Nitric acid , Caustic soda
• Most cargoes in chemical tankers belong to the group "petrochemicals“. Chemical tankers may
also carry petroleum products such as those normally carried in oil tankers.
• Chemical tankers may be engaged in "dedicated" or "parcel" trades. Dedicated service usually
means that the tanker is dedicated for a certain type of chemicals, transporting the same type of
cargo on each voyage.
• A chemical tanker engaged in parcel service moves a variety small lots of chemicals
between a number of ports. Chemical tanker is a cargo ship constructed or adapted and
used for the carriage in bulk of any liquid product listed in Chapter 17 of the IBC Code.