Thermal Oil Heater News

PBL 3421 was delivered by Raymond & Associates, LLC, Bayou La Batre, AL, to Progressive Barge Line, Inc., New Orleans. PBL 3421 is the first of two barges, both 297.5  x 54 x 12 ft. inland service double skin tank barges, each witha cargo capacity of about 4700 short tons at 11.5 ft. draft. The barges are certified by the U. S. Coast Guard as Type I, Type II or Type III hulls for 1.05 or lower specific gravity products and will be used in Progressive Barge Line’s operations on the Gulf Coast.

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) issued a summary of its preliminary examination of a fire that occurred on a ro-ro passenger ferry in Pembroke on July 30, 2008. The fire was the result of thermal oil leaking from the heater coils into the thermal oil heater’s furnace. Although the damage was not serious, the fire was exacerbated by the lack of means to close off the air intake and the lack of a place in the system for injecting an extinguishing medium.