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VM went to the bridge at 0540 h this morning and were pleasantly surprised to see the 10 min wind average was 5 knots. A quick phone call to BOM staff at Casey confirmed the wind had abated early than expected and were unlikely to increase above 15-20knots for the entire day. This was great news for team and allowed us to have our boats on the water by 0700 h.
Operations kicked off at 0800 h which was IAW with our plan and since then things have run as well as we could have hoped. The first step today was for the IRBs to drag the fuel hose from the AIVIQ deck to shore. Once the hose was connected to both the ship and the shore the IRB team anchored the hose to the sea bed. Anchoring of the hose prevents it from being moved by either wind or current onto obstacles i.e. reefs or land which could cause damage to the line resulting in a leak or fuel spill.
Once attached and anchored, the Refuelling Supervisor (RS) went ashore to check all connections. Upon his return to the AIVIQ, the RS lead a series of checks over the radio to confirm all valves were in the correct position for leak testing.
Leak testing is conducted by filling the hose with air from a compressor to a certain pressure. Once the pressure is reached, a valve is shut off and the pressure is monitored for 5 mins. Concurrently all rostered personnel are checking their areas for signs of leaks. If the pressure does not drop and no signs of leaks are observed then the pressure in the line is increased. For this operation the line is charged to 3 bar, 4 bar and finally 5 bar.
Our hose successfully passed the pressure test and was subsequently vented. Once venting was finalised the RS directed a series of valve changes to occur in order to allow pumping to commence. Once these changes were made, and when directed by the refuelling supervisor, the ships engineering department commenced pumping fuel and pumping was underway.
Pumping commenced at 1254 h, 01 Jan 23 and will run for approx. 24-28 hours. We are have been pumping to the lower fuel farm at 50,000L per hour and are hoping to pump to the upper fuel farm at approx. 30,000L per hour.
All changes to valve settings will be closes controlled by the RS and will be based on 15min tank dip readings provided by Casey Station fuel farm monitors.
Regards,
Trent and Cam
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