Archive: Cargo and ballast - Cargo operations

Revision: 4
BP Shipping Doc.no.: PRD-069
Fleet Operating Management System Owner: Marine SuperintendentGas
Approver: Marine Technical Authority, S&OR Shipping

Oil cargo measurement and calculation

Oil cargo measurement and calculation

1. What this procedure covers

This procedure covers methods for accurately measuring and calculating oil cargo quantities.

2. Who this procedure applies to

This procedure applies to the Master and deck officers on vessels operating under the BP Shipping Limited
Document of Compliance.

3. Requirements and recommendations

Responsibilities

3.1 Requirement The Chief Officer is responsible for:

 completing an OBQ/ROB and a Cargo Tank Report, a guide format is
available in OBQ/ROB Form (FRM-287) and Cargo tank report (FRM-
# 256), in accordance with Loading and discharging cargo (PRD-160),
requirement 3.22;
 accurately measuring and calculating cargo quantities;
 making sure that measuring and sampling are done safely;
 accurately completing all the required cargo forms and reports;
 maintaining the cargo measuring and sampling equipment; and
 training ship’s staff in how to use and maintain cargo measuring and
sampling equipment.

# Recommendation Vessels are not required to complete OBQ/ROB Form (FRM-287) and Cargo tank
report (FRM-256) but may choose to do so. If report forms are created onboard,
then the layout should follow these closely.

MMC tri-mode tape units

3.2 Requirement The Master must:

 make sure that the vessel has at least five MMC tri-mode tape units of the
semi-closed type; and
 keep the calibration certificates for all MMC tri-mode tape units readily
available for audit or inspection.

3.3 Requirement The Chief Officer must use the MMC tri-mode tape unit with the most recent
calibration and service certificate as the reference unit, and must keep it separate
from the other working units.

3.4 Requirement The Chief Officer must:

 make sure that the reference unit has a calibration date within the last 12

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 Archive: Cargo and ballast - Cargo operations
Revision: 4
BP Shipping Doc.no.: PRD-069
Fleet Operating Management System Owner: Marine SuperintendentGas
Approver: Marine Technical Authority, S&OR Shipping

Oil cargo measurement and calculation

months; and
 order a replacement unit in sufficient time to always ensure that the above
is complied with.

Commentary A buffer stock of MMC tape units is held by the manufacturer.

When a new unit is received on board, it becomes the new reference unit. The old
reference unit is then added to the working stock on board, and one of the other
working units is returned to the manufacturer for servicing and held as buffer
stock. The working unit returned to the manufacturer should be the working unit
with the oldest service date or a unit that requires repair.

3.5 Requirement The Master must make sure that the vessel carries an additional tape unit of the
closed type for use during closed operations when carrying high-toxicity cargoes.
The Chief Officer must make sure that this additional unit is stored separately and
clearly labelled “For use with high-toxicity cargo only”.

3.6 Requirement The Chief Officer must make sure that MMC tape units are operated and
maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions and the Computer-
based Maintenance Management System (CMMS).
The Chief Officer must also make sure that:
 working units are calibrated for temperature against the reference unit at
least every three months;
 the reference unit is not adjusted unless a series of comparisons with the
working units indicates that it is inaccurate, in which case a replacement
reference unit must be ordered;
 any adjustments needed are made in accordance with the manufacturer’s
instructions; and
 all tests and adjustments are recorded in the CMMS.

When to use ullage gauges or the gauging system

3.7 Requirement The Chief Officer must use the MMC tape units for officially calculating the
quantity of cargo transferred, and must not use cargo tank ullage gauge or gauging
system readings for this purpose.

Recommendation Deck officers should use the cargo tank ullage gauges or gauging system to
monitor the tank levels during transfer. The gauging system may be used for
topping off, subject to accuracy checks.

3.8 Requirement The Chief Officer must make sure that the gauges and gauging system are
maintained in line with the manufacturer's instructions and the CMMS.

Measuring and calculating ullages and temperatures

3.9 Requirement The Chief Officer must make sure that ullages and temperatures for official
calculations are measured using the vessel’s MMC tape units through the vapour
locks specified in the vessel’s cargo tank ullage tables.

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 Archive: Cargo and ballast - Cargo operations
Revision: 4
BP Shipping Doc.no.: PRD-069
Fleet Operating Management System Owner: Marine SuperintendentGas
Approver: Marine Technical Authority, S&OR Shipping

Oil cargo measurement and calculation

Recommendation Standard units of measurement should be used, as follows:

 temperature – degrees Celsius (centigrade) – °C;
 volume – cubic metres – m3;
 weight – metric tons – tonnes; and
 density (mass per unit volume) – kilogrammes per litre – kg/l.
Use volumes XI and XII of the petroleum measurement tables to convert units
from one system to another.

Commentary Weight is measured in air. To calculate the weight of a given volume of oil, use a
weight conversion factor (WCF).
WCF = Density (in kg/l @ 15°C) - 0.0011 kg/l
Weight-in-air = volume at 15°C × WCF
Note: The petroleum measurement tables quote density in kg/m3; dividing by
1,000 converts to kg/l.

3.10 Requirement The Chief Officer must make sure that temperature measurements of the oil in
each tank are taken at approximately one-sixth, three-sixths and five-sixths of the
overall depth.
The mean tank temperature is calculated by averaging these three readings.

3.11 Requirement The Chief Officer must make sure that there is a range of hydrometers in good
working order on board for the different cargoes being carried.

3.12 Requirement The Chief Officer must have a check measurement taken of the product being
loaded (except when it is high-toxicity crude oil cargo), to calculate its density.
See Appendix 1 (Hydrometer measurement and density calculation) for how to
take this measurement, and how to calculate the density.

Commentary Calculating the density is only to confirm that the correct grade of oil is being
loaded and that the density provided by the loading installation is correct.

3.13 Requirement The Chief Officer must use the official density given by the terminal to calculate
cargo quantity.

3.14 Requirement Water dip measurements must be made after loading, but before discharge, in
order to calculate the free water content in each cargo tank.
The Chief Officer must record these measurements in the Cargo tank report (FRM-
256).

Recommendation Water dips are done by coating the dip rod or bob with water-sensitive paste. For
opaque products, the rod or bob may be rinsed in a lighter product – for example,
gas oil – so that any colour change can be seen.
If the test finds large quantities of water, the MMC tape unit should be used to find
the oil-to-water interface.

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 Archive: Cargo and ballast - Cargo operations
Revision: 4
BP Shipping Doc.no.: PRD-069
Fleet Operating Management System Owner: Marine SuperintendentGas
Approver: Marine Technical Authority, S&OR Shipping

Oil cargo measurement and calculation

3.15 Requirement The Chief Officer must make sure that only the following are used for taking dips:
 an MMC tape unit, fitted with a protected probe;
 a brass rod on natural fibre rope; or
 an earthed steel tape with a brass bob.

Commentary This is to eliminate any static hazard.

3.16 Requirement The Chief Officer must make sure that slop quantities are calculated accurately
and recorded on the Slops certificate (FRM-257) before any loading or discharging
operation.

Recommendation The Chief Officer should allow as much time as possible for the slop to settle
before the slop measurements are taken.

Commentary Use the oil density given by the Bill Of Lading to calculate the density of the oil
layer. Use a composite density if more than one grade is present.
The density may also be measured from a sample of the oil layer.
Since relatively small quantities are involved, the errors in the density
measurement or calculation will not be large.

Vessel experience factor (VEF)

3.17 Requirement The Chief Officer must make sure that a continuous record of the vessel
experience factor (VEF) is kept on board.

Commentary The VEF is the ratio between the vessel’s total calculated volume (TCV),
determined from shipboard measurements, and the sum of bill of lading volumes.
VEF = vessel’s TCV at 15°C (m³) / bill of lading volume at 15 °C (m³)
There is no fixed number of cargoes to be used in this calculation, although the
more cargoes that are used, the more accurate the factor becomes.
Cargo surveyors prefer to use a fixed number of past cargoes (typically six to 10)
and to reject obvious anomalies.
The VEF is not used to calculate the vessel’s own figures; its purpose is to modify
the vessel’s figures so that they can be compared with the BoL figures.
Full cargoes of a single grade are preferred when selecting the cargoes to use for
calculating the VEF; this is because the VEF is an experience factor for the vessel,
and not for a single tank or a group of tanks.

4. Appendices

Appendix 1: Hydrometer measurement and density calculation

a) The person taking the measurements should:

 check that the paper scale inside the hydrometer has not been displaced, and that the surface

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 Archive: Cargo and ballast - Cargo operations
Revision: 4
BP Shipping Doc.no.: PRD-069
Fleet Operating Management System Owner: Marine SuperintendentGas
Approver: Marine Technical Authority, S&OR Shipping

Oil cargo measurement and calculation

of the hydrometer is clean;

 make sure the sampling container is clean;
 pour the product from the sampling container into a clean hydrometer measuring cylinder;
 carefully lower the hydrometer into the cylinder, then gently spin it to release surface
tension and remove any air bubbles attached to its surface;
 use a thermometer to measure the product temperature;
 read the hydrometer to four decimal places (for example, 0.8763):
o for transparent products, take the reading at the bottom of the meniscus; and
o for opaque products, take the reading at the top of the meniscus; and
 re-measure the temperature.

b) Calculate the density as follows:

 Average the two temperature readings to the nearest quarter of one degree (0.25 °C).
 For opaque (not transparent) oils, add the meniscus correction (+0.0007 for hydrometer type
L50SP, or +0.0014 for hydrometer type M50SP) to the reading on the hydrometer.
 Use an appropriate table (as below) from the petroleum measurement tables to get the
density at 15 °C:
o Table 53A – crude oils;
o Table 53B – refined products (except lubricating oils); and
o Table 53D – lubricating oils.
 Although the measurement is taken in air, the result, when corrected to 15 °C using the
tables, is a density, not a weight correction factor (WCF).

 Interpolation is required to get a density to four figures.

Appendix 2: Standards that apply

This document helps BP Shipping Limited to deliver the following:

ISO 9001:2008 7.6 (Control of monitoring and measuring equipment)

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