Terence Barker Tanks – Not Just For Storing Fuel
It might have escaped your notice (primarily because it wasn’t trumpeted very loudly here in the UK) but Dubai recently overtook London as the busiest international passenger airport in the world, with just over 70 million passenger transits.
Heathrow still outranks Dubai in total passenger volume (Including domestic flights, where Dubai’s score is, to all intents and purposes, zero!) This situation won’t last for very long however, because Dubai is expecting to increase passenger volumes by around 10% in 2015, while Heathrow is already running pretty much at full capacity – about which we will make no comment, political or otherwise.
Even this however is as nothing compared to the plans for the second major international airport in Dubai, Dubai World Centre’s Al Maktoum International, which first opened for business in 2013 and, when it becomes fully operational in 2022, will be able to cater for around 160 MILLION passengers per year, and that’s in addition to the Dubai International passenger numbers.
(DWC will also be able to handle over 12 million tonnes of air freight a year, dwarfing the capacity of the current logistical heavyweight, Hong Kong, which weighs in at just over 3 million tonnes.) What, you may be asking, does all this has to do with TB Tanks? Well the answer is simply that the company is well represented at both ends of this particular head-to-head encounter.
Dubai. Not too long ago, Terence Barker Ltd were approached by a very large multinational company who wanted a whole bunch of uniquely specified 3000 litre tanks. The unusual thing was that these had to be fitted with a specialised internal heating system, because they were to be used for storing very thick oil sludge, which had to be kept hot enough to be able to flow easily, so that the heavy oil could be pumped out of the tank as required. In the end TB Tanks delivered 49 of these special tanks, almost all of them to Dubai.
The day-time summer temperature in Dubai hovers around 40°C, (Which is more than warm enough for most of us here in the UK!) But even at night in the winter, the temperature rarely falls below twelve degrees. However, even that low a temperature might well see thick, heavy oil become so viscous as to thwart the efforts of the pumps to move it around, and so heating the tanks might be necessary even in Dubai. (Though perhaps not during the long hot summer when it is perfectly possible to put a frying pan out in the sun, put in a little oil (Of the cooking variety!) and fry yourself a few eggs for free.)
Temperatures in the UAE never fall below zero, even in the desert, so if you have seen frost in Dubai, you have either wandered into one of the walk in fridges in the seven-star Burj Al-Arab Hotel or found yourself on the icy slopes of the Ski Dubai in-door ski resort. But interestingly, skiing is, in a round-about kind of way, the connection between TB Tanks and Heathrow.
Heathrow. One of the few metrics where Heathrow still beats Dubai, is the number of skiers which pass through its halls and obstacle courses.
Although a few people might fly to Dubai primarily for the skiing, most will regard Ski Dubai as a side issue, a refreshing alternative to the serious business of lying in the winter sun and enjoying the fabulous night-life. But in Heathrow, tens of thousands of serious skiers come and go; heading for Zermatt, or Meribel, or Hemsedal or Aspen.
However, one of the problems with skiing is that, for most of Europe at least, skiing is a winter sport, because winter is when it snows.
Now, when it snows on the slopes and mountains, that is fine, but sometimes it snows on the flat bits too: and when it snows on the flat bits west of London, travel chaos can ensue, on roads, rail and, potentially at least, in the air. In order to counter these possibilities, a few years ago the wise people at Heathrow approached Terence Barker Ltd to supply them with an 80,000L tank for their stock of Glycol (Antifreeze to you and me.) which they need to keep the runways and equipment clear and to make sure that the planes can soar gracefully into the air without being encumbered by several inconvenient tons of ice on the wings, which might otherwise cause them a problem. 80,000 litres of anything is a lot, and requires a big, strong, completely secure tank, and that of course is exactly what TB Tanks supplied.
So! Here we have fifty tanks supplied by TB Tanks. Forty-nine of them supplied with heaters for keeping oil hot enough to pour in one of the hottest countries in the world, and one big one to make sure that everyone who wants to go skiing in Heathrow destinations can take off safely, and land back-home without skidding off into the scenery. But that is fifty tanks with not a drop of diesel or petrol or even heating oil between them.
Versatility is the name of TB Tank’s game, and so, if you have a requirement for a tank to hold… just about anything at all, then give them a call. They’ll be able to help you out.
For more information: www.tbtanks.co.uk
