Lubricating Oils

Lubricating oils are shipped in bulk and in drums.
Loss of volume usually occurs from oil adhering to tank and pipeline walls or from incomplete emptying of tanks, this will increase with multiple transhipments. The higher the viscosity of the oil the greater the possibility of los.
Different methods of measurement may lead to inaccuracies between shipped and delivered volumes. Lubricating oils should be clear and bright and free from water, sediment and other impurities. A water content of 0,01% to 0,02% will make oils cloudy. Only a very small amount of water will actually dissolve in oil, the remainder being insoluble and making the oil cloudy. Solubility of water increases with temperature, and therefore, oil which is cloudy at low temperatures may be clear at normal or higher temperatures. Cloudy oil can be clarified, generally by heating. Contamination by fresh water may be caused by condensation entering with oil from land tanks, through condensation in ship’s tanks or by incomplete pumping out of ballast or cleansing water. Removal of sea water can be a costly process involving filtering of the oil. Contamination by other oils necessitates, in most cases, an expensive redistillation process.
Loss of volume will be higher when discharge takes place in low temperature conditions. Engine lubricating oils are usually shipped in 1 liter plastic bottles.
Claims may be advised suggesting breakage by way of splitting of the bottles and, as such, loss of contents. In such cases the specific location of the damaged bottle in the carton and the location of the carton in the pallet should be identified. The exercise should relate to each damaged bottle throughout. On the information obtained it should then be possible to identify if the damage was caused by some incident in transit, by incorrect stowage or if the individual containers are defective. Sample containers should be withdrawn and be held for specification test if it is suggested that they were defective. Usually the empty plastic bottles are inspected on arrival at the bottling plant. The bottles are produced in moulds (referred to as cavities) and would usually have been checked from an example of each cavity by weight and neck dimension. The bottles should then be top load tested to ensure that the minimum specification (on a 1 liter pack) of 20 g is met. The specification is based on 1,5 times the dead weight loading of the anticipated pallet configuration.