TankTerminalTraining

TankTerminalTraining perforned this test on behalf of our industries which I hope will convince you and team about the significance of VanCampen’s Law. We asked AI to analyse the risks of lacking information about HSEQ   competencies of contractors.   This is the result: If the operational risks of the marine storage industry when information about the HSEQ (Health, Safety, Environment, and Quality) competence of contractors is lacking, we can use *VanCampen's Law of Functionality*. The equation \((m - i) > r \ → \  ΔS > 0\) suggests that if the mass (m) minus information (i) exceeds reality (r), the system becomes dysfunctional, leading to increased entropy (disorder) and collateral damage. Below is a breakdown of function and the potential externalities.   #### *Core Functionality:* We will assess the operational risks in the marine storage industry by evaluating the gap between the *mass (m)* (e.g., scale of operations, number of contractors, o...

Using *VanCampen’s general law of functionality, we can analyze whether marine oil, gas, and chemical storage terminals can operate optimally if critical guidelines like **ISGOTT 6* (International Safety Guide for Oil Tankers and Terminals) or *SIGTTO* (Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators) are not followed. Here’s the breakdown: ### *Variable Definitions in Context*   - *Mass (m):* The physical infrastructure (storage tanks, pipelines, valves) and volume of hazardous materials (oil, gas, chemicals).   - *Information (i):* The knowledge and application of safety protocols, operational guidelines (ISGOTT/SIGTTO), maintenance procedures, and risk assessments.   - *Reality (r):* The actual operational environment, including risks (leaks, explosions, corrosion), regulatory requirements, and environmental/economic consequences of failure.   ### *Analysis Using the Law*   #### *1. Probability Dysfunctional (ΔS > 0):*...

  Let’s face it earlier rather than too late. After more than 50 years of supplying   petroleum products such as diesel, gasoline or jet fuel, a colonial, profitable   business model will come to an end. In 2009 I wrote the thriller  Probo Koala  – published in English under the title  Toxic Tanker . I wrote this story because I was working as a loss control marine superintendent in West Africa responsible for the supervision of the delivery and discharge of these products, which I knew to be of a disputable quality. In the book the protagonist was asked to hide or replace the original loading port documents, such as the measurement and quality testing report, which were manipulated. The only reason this business model, on which an entire logistics chain – supply, storage, and shipping – depended, could last this long, was because of intertwined interests between local buyers and international trading firms. Low grade quality petroleum products were ...

  Perhaps you will agree that doing business in a society which is being disturbed by geopolitical conflict is not easy. When circumstances, rules, regulations can change overnight or geographical shifts are probable, long term commitment to or investments in alternative energy sources may be unwise. When you are following my columns, you will understand that I always ask Aristotle’s question: ‘seek knowledge of cause’. Uncertainty in information theory is also understood as the ‘information we don’t have’. Basing investments on information we don’t have causes uncertainty. At this moment I am observing that long term commitment into development of the Hydrogen bubble (I believe that would be the correct nomenclature) are gradually decreasing. An hydrogen hub connecting Rotterdam with the German Ruhr Industrial Area has been postponed.   Automakers don’t invest fully in cars running on hydrogen and already are rethinking investing in electrical vehicles, because of uncertainty...

  A recent book by Peter Oborne titled The Assault on Truth (2021) describes the cognitive failures of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, who believe that lying gets them ahead: “Johnson was 23 when he was first sacked for lying”. This book features a listing of events, talks, political turmoil and societal effects caused by information deficit, which demonstrates that Fritjof Capra’s observation of a crisis of perception is correct. This insight is therefore of crucial importance as it offers an unusual view on the certainty by information and the uncertainty by disinformation which can be achieved by man if he or she is open to learn.   The Performance Probability Pattern of disinformation (lying, deceit) is negative because the performance of any system that seeks less information rather than ‘optimal’ can’t function fully. Entropy (disorder) can also be observed as the information we don’t like to have. This is called negative interdependence, which means that a goal can...

  The question is no longer; is it sustainable? But; how can we ensure non harmful functionality? StocExpo is back in 2023 with two separate conference streams, one exploring big picture tank storage, and the other on health & safety and the practicalities of terminal operations. On day two of the Terminal Operations and Safety conference stream, Arend Van Campen, founder of the Tank Storage Sustainability Initiative and Tank Terminal Training, will talk on how tank terminals can realistically minimise their social and environmental impact using information theory. Here’s a taster… It’s incredibly hard for the tank storage sector to minimise its impact on the environment in a significant and wholesale way. There are different levels of regulation, infrastructure, and desire to tackle the environmental impact of tank terminals country to country.  But even on an individual level, sustainability represents a huge challenge to terminal operators. This is partly be...

Information is a word that has never been easy to pin down. In its most familiar sense, information today is news, intelligence, facts and ideas that are needed and passed on as knowledge. But a more active and constructive meaning as something that gives a certain shape or character to matter, or to mind; a force that shapes behaviour, trains, instructs, inspires and guides. Information gives form to the formless, DNA codes are information and form human thought patterns. In this way, information spans the disparate fields of space computing, classical physics, molecular biology and human communication, the evolution of language and the evolution of man. Nature can no longer be seen as matter and energy, but must be interpreted as matter, energy and information. (Campbell, Jeremy, 1982) The universe is a physical system that contains bits of information. Every elementary particle carries bits of information. Electrons carrying information interact in a systematic way to perform a quan...

  MTPQ2 Release   The Ship-Shore Interfaces Expert Group are pleased to announce the release of the new MTPQ2 templates into production on 22 November 2021.   This release includes the following changes:   A separate Port Index has been created to reduce duplication against terminal particulars and provide a central source of Port data, providing an index of terminals at each port. The reduction in questions is designed to reduce the management burden upon terminal operators and to reduce the duplication of questions now included in the Terminal Information Booklet. The Vessel-Berth Comparison Tool (VBCT) has been developed that compares jetty published MTPQ2 data uploaded within MTIS, to vessel’s published HVPQ data from the SIRE database and provides a com...

 Als ik de controlekamer van een terminal bezoek, zie ik vaak dat er een whiteboard aan de muur hangt waarop bijvoorbeeld informatie over noodzakelijke reparaties wordt genoteerd, zoals defecte kleppen, de telefoon op steiger 5 werkt niet, regenwater van drijvende daktanks als gevolg van geblokkeerde dakafvoeren of apparatuur die buiten bedrijf is, enzovoorts. Deepwater Horizon; als je de film bekijkt zie je dat diverse apparatuur niet functioneerde. Die informatie werd genegeerd, de rest is geschiedenis. Landtanks op de Cilacap raffinaderij, Indonesië stonden deze week in brand. Ik heb daar gewerkt en begrijp dat een tekort aan informatie door slecht onderhoud de oorzaak kan zijn geweest. De informatietheorie en de cybernetica bewijzen dat informatie fysisch is. Bits van informatie zijn de fundamentele bouwstenen van de werkelijkheid. Inzicht in deze verbazingwekkende wetenschappen is van cruciaal belang voor de levensduur, de continuïteit, de veiligheid en de duurzaamheid v...

  When I visit a terminal’s control room I often observe that there is a whiteboard on the wall where, for example, information about needed repairs such as faulty valves, the phone on jetty 5 doesn’t work, rain water of floating roof tanks due to blocked roof drains or equipment out of operation, etcetera are recorded. Deepwater Horizon; when you watch the movie you’ll notice that various equipment was not functioning. That information was ignored, the rest is history. Shore tanks at the Cilacap Refinery, Indonesia were on fire this week. I worked there and understand that information deficit due to poor maintenance could have been the cause. Information theory and cybernetics prove that information is physical. Bits of information are the fundamental building blocks of reality. Understanding what can be done by these amazing sciences is crucial for the longevity, continuity safety and sustainability of tank storage and refining operations. Marine Storage Terminals and Ref...

Free Town. A few days ago a gasoline truck collided with another truck in the city streets of Freetown in Sierra Leone. This is what CNN wrote: ' The explosion occurred after two vehicles collided on the highway while the fuel tanker was about to enter a nearby filling station to discharge its fuel, the NDMA said in a statement posted to Facebook on Saturday afternoon.  Footage and eyewitnesses intimated that while the collision took place, both drivers came out of their vehicles and warned community residents to stay off the scene while trying to address a leakage emanating from the collision," the statement said. It added that while that was happening, "some community members rushed to the scene and took advantage of the leakage to scoop fuel and store it in nearby makeshift structures." Because I happened to train a group of Freetown Petroleum Storage Terminal operators and loading masters last week, I wanted to express my condolences to those families who los...

I just read an interesting article written by Richard A. Clarke and R.P. Eddy called;  'Why visionaries who can accurately predict looming disasters are often ignored’. I could not help feeling touched by this article as it exactly confirmed what I am experiencing myself. I have been writing this column and my blog for some years now, but despite the truthfulness and predictions based on logic and empirical research, most of what I write seems to be ignored. The column I write for Hazardous Cargo Bulletin and my publications on LinkedIn are well researched. I trained myself as a cybernetician and a systems and information theorist, because by combining these scientifically sound insights, I can predict looming disasters. I developed an early warning system and a mapping tool to do this. It measures the so-called limitations of reality by calculating the quantity of information present in an organisation, government, goal or a product which I coined; Realimiteit....

A crippling ransomware attack on one of the largest fuel distribution networks in the US has brought into sharp focus the cyber threats facing infrastructure of national importance. The taking of the Colonial Pipeline brought the authorities’ worst fears to life. The ransomware attack disabled the 5,500-mile network, causing fuel shortages in the south-eastern states of the US and prompting the Biden administration to declare a state of emergency. Although the Colonial Pipeline Company’s CEO, Joseph Blount, controversially paid the $4.4m (£3.2m) ransom, the network was out of action for a week. Let’s talk about automation. We can observe that more ‘crucial systems of strategic importance’ in our industry such as marine storage terminals, refineries, chemical production and distribution sectors are being maximally automated. This increases the risk of cyber-attacks. Therefore, our course on Cyberethics is valuable for those who are perhaps not fully aware of human actions in Artific...