Some of the biggest disasters have happened due to the smallest things. The smallest things mentioned here are referred to the small leaks and holes in a transport ship which according to the size of the ship are undoubtedly small. But the catastrophe these holes can carry out is far greater than what they seem to be able to do. Many cargo ships have had to bear huge losses due to the holes and even minor dysfunctions in their gadgets due to electric failure or short circuit when the droplets of water came in contact with the wires inside the cable transit areas.
To make sure that the water never comes in contact with the wires inside the cable transit areas, it is necessary to have the cable transit areas watertight testing done on a regular basis. The testing is not a huge issue because when done with the ultrasonic leak detector, the process becomes simple and easy to conduct. The ultrasonic leak detector works like a simple handheld scanner which detects metal, but in the case of this scanner, it detects the absence of metal. Hence it is one of the most useful devices to find out leaks in the metal body of any kind.
Another great place to keep a look out for leaks is the hatch covers. Hatch covers are one of the most importantly used doors of a transport ship. Not only they are used multiple times to load and unload the cargo, they are also subjected to great wear and tear when the containers are tried to be adjusted on top of these hatch covers. The scraping of heavy metal and the constant bumping and crashing of metal on top of these covers cause a lot of damage to the covers. A lot of metal gets worn off and the paint gets chipped off. The paint is a protective covering for the metal made hatch covers which keep a guard on it from the humidity and prevents rust from forming on the cover’s metal body.
Since it is never permitted for the water to enter the cargo holds, leaks on the hatch covers cannot be tolerated. The hatch cover maintenance and watertight integrity testing is done to find holes in the hatch covers so that they can be repaired in time and the water can be prevented from entering the cargo holds. If the cargo holds are managed to keep dry throughout an entire voyage, it is considered to be the most successful voyage because there would be zero loss in the voyage. But if the water gets inside the holds, the damage done to the cargo would be payable by the shipping company and the profit margin would be reduced. Hence there is no compromise on the hatch cover testing unless the company wants to keep paying fines and damages.
