Fuel transfer - from ship to station:
Today we transferred about 50,000 gallons of fuel from the ship to the station. Now the winterovers have enough fuel to last them through winter. Another fuel transfer will happen around October when the next turnover happens.
It is quite an operation to lay out the fuel hose. Care needs to be taken that the hose does not chafe on hard surfaces, so we placed cardboard on the ground (left photo) and for the gangway we wrapped up the hose like a taco (right photo). The ship was rocking quite a bit, so we added extra padding at the point where the gangway meets the pier.
We had an orientation the day before, so we knew what to expect. Our main goal was to avoid leaks/spills. This was truly a team operation with several watchers all along the hose, the connector and the pipe that lead to the tank on station to watch for anything suspicious.
We were done refueling the tank in just over 3 hours, so the flow rate on average was 4.2 gallons per second!
The cleanup was done very carefully too. The hose was guided such that any remaining fuel inside it would return back to the ship.
Lastly, the fuel hose was put back on the reel. Using a bucket, Kris took care that both ends of the hose would not spill any fuel (absorbing pads to soak up any spills were readily available too!).
It was a very efficient operation with excellent team work - with great guidance by Rob Bergeron and Kris Perry.
