Compelling reasons to choose the tank container

‘More secure than drums’ Leonard Neill THERE’S AN ongoing conflict between what appears to be correct, what is correct, what is cost efficient and what really works, when it comes to the transport of dangerous goods, says M&S Shipping director Malcolm Drysdale. “The case for shipping hazardous liquids in tank containers seems pretty compelling when tested against these criteria,” he says. “In the first place the IMO 1 tank complies with a dozen or more international standards and build is controlled and certified by one or other of the classification societies.” Shippers must recognise that the tank is hugely more secure when compared to drums, he says. Its construction is far stronger than a normal dry van container. It is a highly engineered pressure vessel and there is essentially no comparison to the ‘good old 45 gallon drum’. “We’ve had tanks written off as derailments in Zambia. Others driven over a cliff in India, dropped from cranes in Fremantle and liberated from speeding trucks in Zimbabwe, Dar es Salaam, Casablanca and Antananarivo. But we have never lost cargo with resultant risk to human life or environment. “Going further down the check list, while we have tanks of a wide variety of capacities to cater for different products, the standard 24000l tank affords the shipper and the receiver an absolute minimum of 5000l more capacity than even the best configured drummed cargo.” Loading a tank with hazardous liquid on a closed vapour system is a one-man job, he says. In this way it is accomplished with zero risk to life and environment and there is no handling to speak of, no forklifts to break, no hydraulic drum clamps to spring a leak and no labour to worry about. “There are also no hassles or delays if the weather isn’t as good as it could be if you don’t have a covered loading bay. I wonder if statistics exist to quantify how many workers suffer injury as a result of leaking drums because these were dropped, damaged by impact or due to age.” What’s more they’re user-friendly, says Drysdale. “Maximum lift, maximum safety, maximum visual impact and if your receiver doesn’t have bulk storage facilities on site he can simply plumb the tank container into his plant and give it back to us when it is empty.”