Why?

The feeling of achievement that follows any effective operation pertaining to the success of a voyage when carrying chemicals, whether it be a difficult tank clean through the loading of unknown product(s), or conducting multiple operations in a single port, followed by perhaps a difficult voyage then possibly discharging in trying conditions, can be rarely matched.

This achievement can only be realised through the combined knowledge of the personnel onboard who occasionally may require help when the voyage orders contain a new and strange product.

No one person, however experienced, can know all the aspects, or quirks, of a particular product and the ability of being able to recognise this limitation and turn to others in the team is what makes a great chemical tankerman.

Hence this knowledgebase.

What?

There are a number of good chemical tanker guides or notes, mostly dealing with safety, some addressing the basic knowledge together with good tank cleaning guides available both in publication and online. However, it is rare to find information on the more refined, or advanced, aspects of chemical tanker operations, and even rarer to find information on what to do when it all goes horribly wrong.

Hence this knowledgebase.

Who?

Compiled by a Master Mariner whose sea-going career compiled of tankers of all types and descriptions, some of which will hopefully never be seen again, followed by a shore-based career as a Marine Consultant and CDI Ship Inspector with the occasional appearance as an Expert Witness specialising in Cargo Contamination, together with other Chemical Tanker Masters, Consultants and Chemists, all of whom are specialists in the carriage of chemicals in their own right.