New Method of Unloading Oil

Tankers at Island Ports

THE Vacuum Oil Company is now operating a bulk terminal at Lae, New Guinea; another at Noumea, New Caledonia, and is constructing yet another at Port Moresby. In all cases,

they are using plant and materials left behind in the islands by the armed forces.

The Lae terminal is a £lOO,OOO project.

There are six 500,000 gallon tanks, with warehouses, workshops, and a housing scheme to provide home for married members of the staff as well as accommo dation for single employees. Jungle growth has been cleared from an eight inch pipeline a mile long which runs from the Lae installations to Milfordhaven where tankers will be discharged.

The second New Guinea bulk installa tion at Port Moresby is well on the way to completion. A number of tanks each with a 500,000 gallon capacity were erected there by the armed services and three of these have been taken over by Vacuum Oil and modified for commercial use. A submarine pipeline about 5,000 feet long is to be laid on the bed of the harbour; tankers will tie up at mooring buoys at its harbour end and pump their cargoes direct to shore installations.

A similar submarine pipeline was re cently laid by Vacuum engineers at Ducos, seven miles from Noumea. Vacuum pur chased the Ducos shore installation (which was put in by the Americans during the war) from the French administration about three years ago.

Formerly petrol to Island consumers was distributed in drums. The installa tion of these bulk storage facilities con stitutes a tremendous saving in handling costs and releases large numbers of precious drums for other purposes.

Photos show tanker discharging at Ducos, NC. Top, a deck view of coupling: below, sub marine pipeline coupled to tanker’s outlet valves.