Oil Port Research Articles

Securing oil port logistics: A blockchain framework for efficient and trustworthy trade documents.

The oil port logistics involves multiple parties including oil tanker owners, port authorities, customs, oil suppliers, and shipping companies. These parties need to exchange a significant amount of data and documentation related to cargo, such as bills of lading, customs declarations, and cargo manifests. This huge amount of data and documentation provides ample opportunities for data manipulation and corruption. Moreover, physical documentation is slow and prone to errors and manipulation. This data can be securely stored and shared between different parties in a tamper-proof and transparent manner using blockchain. Blockchain is a decentralized technology that employs secure hashing and consensus algorithms that can detect any data modification. Hence, this work proposes a blockchain-enabled immutable, and efficient framework for trade documentation in oil port logistics. The proposed framework provides timely processing of oil trade documents and ensures immutability while increasing trust among the trade entities. In addition, this work implements a private blockchain for the execution of smart contracts, which can ensure that all parties involved in the logistics process comply with pre-agreed rules and regulations. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed framework in terms of transparency, immutability, network latency, throughput, and resource utilization.

Study the Impact of the Anthropogenic Activities on the Marine Environment of Fujairah Offshore Waters of UAE Based on Baseline Surveys and Buoy Data

As Fujairah comprises extremely diverse natural landscapes which enforce us to protect and understand possible risks and challenges faced by the coastal waters of Fujairah, it is critical to mitigate, reduce, and eliminate the risks. The aim of this study is to assess and evaluate the effect of such anthropogenic activities on the offshore waters of Fujairah. Accordingly, two buoys were deployed after conducting a baseline survey for 30 locations targeting areas affected by the anthropogenic activities. Furthermore, two sites were chosen for the buoy deployment, nearshore which is across the desalination plant (Qidfa) and offshore which is across the oil and gas facility port (Skamkam). After analyzing the water quality measurements taken for 1 year from both deployed buoys and compared it with the baseline survey measurements, an indication of water quality deterioration in nearshore and offshore buoys was evinced, and the nearshore site which located in Qidfa has a higher deterioration in water quality measurements compared to the offshore site located in Skamkam. A long-term monitoring program needs to be conducted to gather additional data on water quality over several years to help identify the seasonal variations, trends, and long-term changes in water quality.

Risk Assessment of Oil Spills along the Coastline of Jiaozhou Bay Using GIS Techniques and the MEDSLIK-II Model

With the increasing global reliance on maritime oil transportation, oil spills pose significant environmental hazards to coastal ecosystems. This study presents a comprehensive quantitative framework for assessing oil spill risks along the Jiaozhou Bay coastline in China. The research begins with an analysis of historical spill data to construct representative oil spill simulation scenarios. The advanced MEDSLIK-II oil spill prediction model is then employed to simulate oil spill trajectories under these scenarios, focusing on key parameters such as oil thickness and mass to evaluate the hazard levels associated with each scenario. Subsequently, the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) is utilized to assess the vulnerability of coastal zones, while Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques are employed for a spatial analysis and visualization of the results. The case study, covering a 26.87 km stretch of the Jiaozhou Bay coastline, reveals 10 high-risk zones with a total length of 8561.2 m. These areas are predominantly characterized by saltwater marshes, brackish water marshes, and inundated low-lying areas, with ESI rankings of 9 and 10, accounting for 24% of the 339 analyzed segments. The modeling results indicate that in the simulated scenarios, oil spills originating from the Huangdao Oil Port and Qianwan Port pose the greatest risks, with potential impacts extending up to 12 km and 15 km along the coastline, respectively. The study highlights the importance of considering multiple factors, including oil spill trajectories, coastal geomorphology, and ecological sensitivity, in comprehensive risk assessments. The proposed framework demonstrates potential for adaptation and application to other coastal regions facing similar oil spill risks, contributing to the advancement of coastal management practices worldwide.

Possibility of cultivation gray mangroves Avaccinnia marina (Forsk.) Vierh. in the Iraqi coasts

A team from Marine Science Centre/ University of Basrah, in cooperation with some regional and local scientific institutions, attempted to cultivate the mangrove Avicennia marina in some Iraqi coastal areas, as part of an experiment that is the first of its kind in the country. A site was chosen to plant these trees in the tidal zone in the Khor Al-Zubair oil port. After six months of seedling growth in the greenhouse, the seedlings were transferred to the test site, and measurements of plant growth indicators were carried out for two years at the test site for the period from April 2019 to April 2021. The maximum height of the plants during the study period was 173.3 cm, while The indicators of vegetative growth and chlorophyll content increased significantly during the study period, which is close to the growth of trees in their natural habitats. The survival rates of seedlings were 44% after 24 months of planting. Most of the results were compared according to the Least Significant Difference test (L.S.D.). At a probability level of 0.05.

Study Growth Indicators of Mangrove Avicennia marina (Forsk.) Vierh. Cultivated on the Coast of Khor Al-Zubair Oil Port, South of Basrah - Iraq

A study was conducted to assess the growth indicators of mangroves Avicennia marina cultivated in the intertidal zone at the Khor Al-Zubair oil port site for the period from May 2020 to May 2021. The study showed high growth indicators. Recorded the highest averages indicators to the total height of the plant and the number of lateral branches were 113.4 cm and 30.4 branches. Plant-1 after 12 months from the date of planting in the site, while the highest average to indicators of the total number of leaves in the plant, the total leaf area, and the total leaf content of chlorophyll reached 176 leaves.plant-1, 3511 cm2.plant-1, and 52.7 μg.cm-2 were after 9 months of cultivation in the field, respectively. While the plants achieved survival rates of 78% at the end of the experiment. The results were compared according to the Least Significant Difference (L.S.D.) test at a probability level of 0.05.

Methodological approaches to assess climate vulnerability and cumulative impacts on coastal landscapes

Natural and human-induced hazards and climatic risks threaten marine and coastal ecosystems worldwide, with severe consequences for these socio-ecological systems. Therefore, assessing climate vulnerability (exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity) and the cumulative environmental impacts of multiple hazards are essential in coastal planning and management. In this article, we review some approaches used in climate vulnerability assessment and marine and coastal cumulative environmental impacts to learn about state-of-the-art on the subject. Besides, we qualitatively evaluated the climatic vulnerability of five coastal regions of Venezuela using the IPCC concept of Reasons for Concern (RFCs) to determine their level of climatic exposure. We also assessed the cumulative environmental impact of multiple stressors on marine and terrestrial ecosystems using a well-known impact assessment method partially modified to explore the feasibility of this model in data-poor areas. However, we found no standardization of the methodologies used in evaluating Coastal Climate Vulnerability or Cumulative Environmental Impacts in coastal landscapes or frameworks that operationally link them with socio-ecological systems. Most studied coastal regions are at risk from at least three RFCs, loss of unique ecosystems (RFC1), risks associated with extreme events (RFC2) and risks associated with global aggregate impacts (RFC4). Furthermore, the assessment showed that areas with accumulated impact cover about 10 percent ranging from moderate to high in urban areas, growth zones, industrial oil settlements, port areas and aquaculture areas with fishing activity. Moreover, areas with moderate to low cumulative impact cover half of the study area, dominated by uninhabited regions and vegetation of the thorny scrub and coastal grassland types. Therefore, we consider it essential to implement regional climate risk management that incorporates these assessments into the ordinance in countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change, such as Venezuela, which has an extensive line of low-lying coastlines (where 60% of the country's population lives) and coastal regions with harsh climates and poor economic conditions. Finally, we present the scope and limitations of implementing these evaluations and highlight the importance of incorporating them into regional strategies for adaptation to climate change.

The Impact of the Crude Oil Price on Tankers’ Port-Call Features: Mining the Information in Automatic Identification System

Ship navigation technical data contains a lot of information. In this paper, we explore a relationship between the crude oil price and tankers’ port-call features by mining the information recorded in Automatic Identification System (AIS), which extends the application field of ship navigation technical data and aims to help oil shipping enterprises and port enterprises to arrange operation plans in advance. We generate a monthly panel data over the period from 2010 to 2020 of major global ports located in main crude oil exporting countries from AIS data. By using the panel fixed-effect model and binary logit model, our empirical results innovatively present the tanker’s monthly port-call features are influenced by crude oil price fluctuation through four dimensions, that is the tankers’ port-call numbers, the average docking time, total gross tonnage of the docking tankers and the number of different docking tankers. With these variables, we attempt to analyze the relationship between crude oil price fluctuation on tankers’ port-call features. The results of the study are helpful to comprehensively understand the impact mechanism of the crude oil price on the tankers’ port-call features.

Occupational Health and Poisoning Risk Assessment at a Crude Oil Port

The throughput of crude oil port is huge, and there are many toxic substances in crude oil, and the cumulative contact effect of toxic substances is obvious because the single operation time of the crude oil port operators is long. The purpose of this study is to investigate the hazard status of crude oil port and evaluate the occupational health and poisoning risk level, so as to provide crude oil operator for risk control. In order to evaluate the occupational health and poisoning risk of crude oil port operators, and to better protect operators, the exposure ratio was determined based on the detection of benzene and hydrogen sulfide concentrations, the main hazard factors of crude oil. Comprehensive analysis of benzene and hydrogen sulfide hazard characteristics, contact ratio, hazard control measures, exposure time and other factors of the exposure index, using the comprehensive index method to determine the exposure level, and finally determine the occupational health and poisoning risk of operators. To determine the occupational health and poisoning risks of workers. The assessment indicated that the risk rating for exposure to benzene and hydrogen sulfide was moderate, but there were weaknesses in hazard control measures. Once the protective effect of sanitary engineering is weakened or invalid, the workers will suffer serious occupational health and poisoning harm. To reduce occupational health and poisoning risk, operators should strengthen on-site monitoring of benzene and hydrogen sulfide concentration and personal protection.

Changes in Some of Heavy Elements Concentrations and Their Relationship with Some Environmental Factors in The Iraqi Coastal Water

Five environmental factors were recorded in the areas near Basra oil port and near Buoy 17 in addition to the Umm Qasr Port. The three locations that are concerned within this study represent sites of movement of steamers and oil tankers. Where the monthly study was conducted on the changes occurring in the Electrical conductivity, water temperature, pH, turbidity and total dissolved solid. The current study indicated that the temperature values were within their annual rates as they ranged from 14-34 °C and the values of pH were that within the ranges prevailing characteristic of Iraqi coastal waters, while Electrical conductivity recorded low values during January in all study stations. Moreover, the turbidity and TDS have low values and high values were recorded in the first and second stations. The relation between those factors with four heavy metals Fe,Cd.pb and Zn was studied. This study is considered as a data base involving the many different parameters and alterable changes in the Iraqi marine waters, hence, it contains essential information which can be used for comparison in case of extension of salt tide to Shatt Al -Arab river.

Methane Gas Cofiring Effects on Combustion and NO x Emission in 550 MW Tangentially Fired Pulverized-Coal Boiler.

A shift from coal to liquefied natural gas for electricity generation can mitigate CO2 emissions and respond to the intermittent and variable characteristics of renewable energy. With this objective, numerical simulation was performed in this study to determine the optimal position of the methane injector and evaluate the achievable reduction in NOx emissions before applying methane cofiring to an existing 550 MW tangentially fired pulverized-coal boiler (Boryeong Unit 3). The combustion and NOx reduction in the furnace were intensively analyzed based on the methane cofiring rate (up to 40%). The optimal position of the methane injector was found to be inside the oil port based on the spatial distribution of NOx and the stoichiometric ratio along the furnace height. The NOx reduction rate was logarithmically proportional to the methane cofiring rate, and compared to the base case, a 69.8% reduction was achieved at the 40% cofiring rate. In addition, the fraction of unburned char at the boiler outlet was equivalent to that of the existing boiler as the increase in the flow rates of the close-coupled and separated overfire air improved fuel and air mixing. Simultaneously, methane cofiring led to a reduction in the total fuel loss and CO emissions. Finally, this study showed that the recommended optimum cofiring rate was 20% based on the furnace exit gas temperature. Under the 20% methane cofiring condition, the boiler achieved a 57.3% reduction in NOx emissions and a 7.4% improvement in fuel loss.

WITHDRAWN: Influence of TOC and clay minerals on sedimentation process in Iraqi marine sediments

The Studying marine sediments is an important aspect in the geological, environmental and economic. The Northwest of the Arabian Gulf region characterized especially the specific area between the port of Umm Qasir and Basrah oil port with natural hydrodynamic and depositional variety. In this paper, the effect of organic carbon on marine sediments and its relationship with clay minerals has been studied. Three marine cores (at depths between 15 and 30 cm) are collected for marine sites between Khor Shytianah (core 1), Khor Abdullah (core 2), and Basrah oil port (open sea, core 3) by using marine sediments core sampler device. Living fauna and present a good percentage of total organic carbon was presented in the low marine environment in the core 3. A linear relationship was obtained between the clay mineral accumulation and the organic carbon ratio, this may be attributed to the ability of organic sediments and clay minerals to preserve water. Total organic carbon is decreased with depth increase. The highest total organic carbon found in the open sea (core 3). Mixed layer clay minerals represented by Montmorillonite–Chlorite (M-Ch %) is prevalent in the study area followed by Illite – Palygroskite(P-I %), Chlorite, Montmorillonite, Kaolinite, Illite, and Palygroskite respectively.

Application of 3D Laser Scanning Technology in Monitoring Deformation of Port Trail

Qinhuangdao Port, as the main hub port for coal transportation from north to south, has become an important coal, oil and other energy export port in China. The port facilities are in continuous operation all the year round, especially in the peak period of coal transportation in the south. The maintenance and monitoring of the equipment are faced with such problems as heavy work tasks, poor working environment, many construction disturbances, and the influence of monitoring on port production. This paper mainly introduces the application of ground 3D laser scanner in building deformation measurement based on the deformation measurement project of positioning car cable track in the unloading department of coal terminal of Qinhuangdao Port. Through actual results illustrate using the ground three-dimensional laser scanner for high-risk, complex structure deformation monitoring operation is of field operation is simple, short construction period, small impact on the continuity of production equipment, complete data and reliable advantages of accuracy, which is the ground three-dimensional laser scanner in Qinhuangdao port for the first time application, for the future of 3 d laser scanning technology in the port risk measuring project and digital 3 d modeling and so on has certain reference value.

Waste management of a maritime port-the case of Mongla port authority

During voyage of a ship from one port to another, different types of wastes generated due to operation of the ship and livelihood of the crews, which fall under the scope of international convention for the prevention of pollution from ships, MARPOL 73/78. It is seen that almost 1000 nos. of ships are calling in to Mongla port every year which is gradually increasing day by day. However, there is no waste management system in the port now. IMO has recognized that provisions of proper wastes collection vessel as well as oil spill management vessel and reception facilities are crucial for effective MARPOL implementation in the maritime port. In view of the same, the feasibility of establishment of a standard and modern waste management system for Mongla port has been studied. First of all, amount of different types of wastes sourced from the shipping operation at the port of Mongla has been estimated following standard procedure and to facilitate the necessary services to incoming ships, a proposal has been made to procure a waste collection vessel, oil spill collection vessels and port reception and treatment facilities by Mongla Port Authority along with other necessary vessels and equipment. The procurement, operation and maintenance costs as well as revenue to be collected from the incoming ships for wastes quantities, alternative uses of the vessels and facilities and earnings from selling the product of the treatment have been examined. It is found from the study that the investment is technically, financially and economically viable.

A novel oil port risk and efficiency performance measured by using AIS data and maritime open data: The case of Guangzhou, China

This study proposes a novel low-cost and independent method to estimate five key performance indicators: ships traffic; berth utilization and allocation; handling efficiency; throughput; and oil spill risk. The results obtained through this method can be used as reference for oil port operation optimization and risk control. Performance indicators are estimated in real time by using AIS data and maritime open data instead of relying on the manually collected and unverifiable official data. These performance indicators are found to be directly related to the number of handling events and the corresponding handled quantity in the ports. Therefore, this paper first identifies handling events and records the corresponding berthing time and berth. Second, the handling efficiency and time are estimated to calculate the handling quantity of each tanker. Third, the identified handling events and the corresponding handling quantity are aggregated into port level in chronological order so as to extract the key performance indicators. Finally, data of an oil terminal in the Guangzhou are taken as a case to verify the feasibility and reliability of the proposed method.

MEASUREMENT OF BORON CONCENTRATION IN PARTS OF THE IRAQI MARINE ENVIRONMENT USING ICP-OES TECHNIQUE

This research aims to evaluation the concentration of boron in the samples collected from parts of the Iraqi marine environment starting from Umm Qasr port to the deep oil port within the Arabian Gulf, where the study included 18 samples. Laboratory examination was done by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry technology. The obtained boron concentrations ranged between 3.3846ppm at The waterway of Khor Al-Zubair 1 and 7.3956ppm at the waterway of Khor Al-Zubair 3 within the Iraqi marine environment. The results can be utilized to provide distinct complementary contributions when a pollution event occurs and to implement water quality standards by the relevant authorities to maintain water samples free of radioactive contamination that people need. The study also revealed that 18 samples of surface water contained more boron than the detection limit

Changes of Some Environmental Factors in the Iraqi Coastal Waters

Some environmental factors were studied in the areas near Umm Qasr Port and near Buoy 17 in addition to the Basra oil port area. Where the monthly study was conducted on the changes occurring in the water temperature, pH degree, salinity, conductivity, turbidity, light penetration, total suspended solids, total dissolved materials and alkalinity were studied. The current study showed that the temperature values were within their annual rates as they ranged from 14-34 °C, while the values of the acid function and alkalinity were that within the ranges prevailing characteristic of Iraqi coastal waters, while conductivity recorded low values during January in all study stations, also recorded low values of transparency for the first and second stations (14-40 cm) compared to the third station that recorded higher values as 200-250 cm, while the turbidity values in the third station decreased and high values were recorded in the first and second stations and this is the case in the TSS and TDS values as well.

Fault Early Warning Method of Marine Transport Freighter Based on Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation

Yin, X. and Zuo, D., 2020. Fault early warning method of marine transport freighter based on fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. In: Yang, Y.; Mi, C.; Zhao, L., and Lam, S. (eds.), Global Topics and New Trends in Coastal Research: Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 103, pp. 709–713. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Failure of marine transportation freight can cause significant economic damage, and timely warning of its failure can reduce the risk. Therefore, a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method for marine transportation freighter failure early warning method is proposed. Summarize the organization procedures and technical procedures for the identification of hazard sources, and based on a comprehensive analysis of the dangerous factors in the storage and transportation process of the oil port cargo ship, excavate and analyze the hazard factors in the safe production of the oil port. Identification of important hazards; Based on the identification of the hazard source, the storage and transportation system is comprehensively and systematically divided, and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is used to build a safety evaluation model based on the berthing operation process of the oil tanker, the tank farm area and the personnel, to make the overall safety of the storage and transportation process of the oil port cargo ship. Judgment of the situation, the establishment of an early warning model for the storage and transportation of oil terminals. The experiment proves that the proposed method is more complete in fault detection of marine freighters and has higher practical applicability.

Estimating offshore exposure to oil spill impacts based on a statistical forecast model

A statistical oil spill risk forecast model in support of emergency response and environmental risk assessment is presented by combing the deterministic model, probabilistic strategy and frequency estimation. When applied to evaluate various potential spill sources (oil port, fairway, anchorage and pipeline) in the Zhoushan offshore area, the model provides the probability of slick spatial position, oil slick thickness, and exposure duration of floating slick. An oil spill risk map is generated after integrating multiple spill sources, which is a powerful tool for identifying high-risk areas and developing contingency plan. Impact scope and damage degree vary among different sources because of special local topographical, hydrological, and meteorological conditions, where generally exists high pollution intensity of point-source and wide range of line-source. Huge Changjiang River runoff prevents coastal sea in the north from being contaminated by spilled oil from the southern Zhoushan offshore area.

A Relationship of Contingency Plan and Related Government Authorities Integration towards an Oil Spill Incidents

The maritime industry relates to the carriage of cargoes activities such as shipping and port operations, including a wide supporting activity offshore oil and gas exploration and production. In addition, the marine industry provides a pillar of national economic growth and prosperity. Generally, most of the enterprises engaged in the maritime business are related to shipping, designing, constructing, acquiring, manufacturing, repairing and maintaining, operating and supplying. However, from the various shipping activities could lead to marine pollution especially an oil spill. This study focuses to analyze the relationship of the contingency plan of oil preparedness and response by government authorities towards the oil spill. 43 respondents from selected oil port and government authorities have participated in the questionnaire survey. The result from the multiple correlations and regression analysis show the contingency plan activity of the preparedness and response are significantly and positively related to the government authority integration towards the oil spill incidents.

Screw Rotors with Partial Length Contact.

Tribology theory suggests manufacturing screw rotors with partial helical contact along the longitudinal axis of the intermeshing rotors may significantly influence their lubrication characteristics. This paper considers the theoretical effects of using this geometry feature for multiphase flow machines. Modelling of machines that include partial contact along with other relevant aspects such as oil port location, has further been investigated using ANSYS CFX and some results of these simulations are presented and discussed.