Loading Arm - Marine Loading Arm

Marine Loading Arm

For more details on this topic, see marine loading arm.

To load or unload a ship, a hose or loading arm is needed to follow the movement of the ship due to the dynamics of changing draft, changing tide, wind and other factors. A Marine Loading Arm offers a significant improvement over a hose in the transfer of liquids between vessel and shore because It provides an easier and more ergonomic operation, gives longer service life and permits Emergency Release Action without any spillage of product and without any pollution.

Like the Top and Bottom loading arm, the Marine Loading Arm is a system consisting of rigid piping and swivel joints to obtain flexibility. The OCIMF (Oil Companies International Marine Forum) and ASME have established guidelines for matters of strength calculations, working envelope and accessories. However the design of the loading arm is not included in this guideline and left to the individual manufacturer.

  • Different design for Marine loading arm

The product line reposes on a fixed stand post or riser and is connected by an inner and an outer arm – both arms are movable parts. Balancing is needed due to the weight of the steel piping. Balancing of the Marine Loading Arm is done by a rotating counterweight, which is connected to the inner arm and the outer arm via a rigid pantograph. Small loading arms may be manually operated. The bigger ones are hydraulically operated.

The product line can be self supported or mounted on an independent support frame. Since the swivels are strong enough to absorb the weights of the product line, the liquid in the arms and the forces of the wind, the marine loading arm can be built as a self-supporting structure. Nowadays marine loading arms can also be built on an independent support frame as is required for LNG and highly corrosive liquids.

Recently the design of the marine loading arms has been significantly improved by the symmetric design. This new concept offers many advantages such as the equal distribution of forces on the swivel joints under all conditions, less force within the structure, reduces the weight of the loading arm, and permits larger working envelopes without requiring significantly stronger construction. Since the symmetric design has proven its effectiveness and its reliability. The symmetric design is also applicable to marine loading arms requiring an independent support frame.

  • 2 Marine loading arms connected to ship

  • Marine loading arms connected to ship

  • Marine loading arm with long outboard

  • Marine loading arm connected to ship Air view

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Famous quotes containing the words marine, loading and/or arm:

    “God has a hard-on for a Marine because we kill everything we see. He plays His game, we play ours.”
    —Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)

    “Nitrates and phosphates for ammunition. The seeds of war. They’re loading a full cargo of death. And when that ship takes it home, the world will die a little more.”
    —Earl Felton, and Richard Fleischer. Captain Nemo (James Mason)

    “Summoning a child’s voice from a webfoot stone,
    Never never oh never to regret the bugle I wore
    On my cleaving arm as I blasted in a wave.
    Now shown and mostly bare I would lie down,
    Lie down, like down and live
    As quiet as a bone.”
    —Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)