The Pipe tunnel runs full length of the tank section along the centre line.
Individual pipes from each tank to the pump room for loading/discharging.
They DO NOT “fill the double bottom with oil”
There were no pipes in the ‘pipe tunnels’ of Berge Istra/Vanga, i.e. the double bottom. The tunnel was used as a pipe itself! It didn’t work. You could not flush the “pipe” and clean it, etc. So the double bottom was always full of oil, shit and gas and then some stupid Norwegians started hot work repairs in the vicinity and BOOM. Ships sank and crew died. And the owners got away with it.
Must have been a ship designed by a Swede who didn’t understand the purpose of double hull.
Here is a pipe tunnel designed by a Norwegian who does:
PS> On HLV the pipe tunnel is the only access from fore to aft when carrying cargo on deck, or when the deck is submerged:
Entertaining to see that Norwegian and Swedish banter is still about. Best was the argument over who had the best sense of humour.
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Sometimes it’s humour other times it’s bloody serious. We were paid well into the 18’th hundreds to kill Swedes on sight with a good reason.
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The only way to determine the true champion of the two nations would be a selfie TicTok dance off!
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Oh man you almost made me do it. Never make me post cringe.
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Re your photo of pipe tunnels they are not located on the weather deck and there are no IG lines in any pipe tunnel anywhere
Re HLV (Heavy Lift Vessel) last time I was aboard one, access from fore (deck house) to aft (engine room) was a corridor below the main deck with no pipes in it at all.
No it is not. (Why would you have a “pipe tunnel” on the weather deck??)
Agree. (On OBOs the IG lines are on deck)
I don’t know what type of HLV you have been on board. (??)
On most semi-submersible HLVs there is a tunnel running along the centre line in the double bottom that serve both as a walkway from fore to aft v.v. It also hold piping for the ballast tanks and cables from the generator room to the propulsion rooms:
When I was a cadet, if we had a hangover the C/O would send us down the pipe tunnels with windy hammers.
For what it is worth what you are calling the Pipe Tunnel, we often refer to as the Duct Keel.
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Thanks.
Yes Duct Keel and Pipe tunnel is basically two names for the same thing, but on different types of ships. The structural function is the same though.
On Semi-submersible Heavy lift ships :of this type, with diesel/electric propulsion:
The pipe tunnel is used as a passage way from the Generator Room to the Propulsion room, the deck aft and the stabilizing columns (where the mooring winches are situated on top)
It is more accessible, well ventilated and clean.
On the converted tankers to semi-sub HLV, like this one:
It is used at every change of watch to reach the Fwrd. bridge v.v.
PS> I have been looking to see if I had GA or pictures of the pipe tunnel without luck. When I stopped searching I stumble upon this one:
It looks like a corridor with plenty cables connecting a fwd deck house with an aft engine room on a HLV.
Duct keel or Pipe tunnel with pipes to ballast the fore peak or transfer fuel from a fwd bunker tank to the engine room aft was complete madness from the beginning. The little wagon on rails to inspect the pipes were even more mad. Imagine when they asked me to use it to look for a crude oil leak into it. I was laughing all the way home.
If you’ve ever crawled through a duct keel with parts or tools I don’t think you’d say that.
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I believe his ship is OOCL Atlanta or another OOCL containership. He took some time off and I can’t remember whether Atlanta was the one he left or the one he came back to.
The duct keel/pipe tunnel I was asked to check (on an Ore/Oiler) using a wagon on rails was full of oil and gas, so I asked for the duct keel to be cleaned and ventilated for entry before my entry. I never heard from them after that. It seems they tried to clean the duct keel using water and detergent and entering a storm to slosh the water around in the duct and using a portable pump to get rid of the dirty water but failed. I never found out where the leak was - in a pipe or in the duct keel boundary structure to an oil tank.
Jeez