HANDLING BULK OIL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 880, 25 January 1930, Page 13

HANDLING BULK OIL

TEXAS COMPANY’S BIG PLANT huge tanker arriving An interesting visitor to Auck|jnd tomorrow morning will be the Texas O' l Company's tanker Australia- With an overall length of 530 ft. a 70ft. beam, and a depth of 39ft. the Australia is the largest Diesel tanker afloat and by far the biggest vessel of its kind to visit these waters. She is due to arrive at 8.30 o’clock. The arrival of the Australia, which w jH be employed an supplying the company’ 3 bulk installations in Australia and New Zealand, marks the Texas Company’s entry, in real earnest into the New Zealand market in the bulk supply of motor spirits. The Australia has a gross tonnage of 11,628 and a capacity of 145,000 barrels of refined petroleum products—a dead weight of IS,BOO tons or sufficient to fill over 1,000 railway tank cars. At Western Wharf she will discharge the remainder of her huge cargo of bulk LARGE PLANTS The Texas Corporation of U.S.A is the largest independent single oil company in the world, with a capital in excess of £100,000,000. The recent purchase of the California Oil Corporation for £30.000,000 made it passible to cpen up profitable relationships with Australia, New Zealand and the Far East, and the company immediately put in hand preparations for bulk installations in these countries. The Australian organisation has recently been completed and has now absorbed, in a very short space of time, the huge total of 6,000,000 gallons of motor spirit as well as motor oil. The New Zealand installations have also be%u most thorough and complete. The main terminals for bulk apirit are at Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton and Dunedin, with miniatures of these at principal provincial centres. A large sum has already been invested in New Zealand, including subtantial purchases of British materials. MADE IN NEW ZEALAND It is Interesting to note that out of the hundreds of Texaco pumps spread over evc.y city, town, village and hamlet throughout the length and breadth of the country, practically all were made in New Zealand on a design invented by a New Zealander. In addition to its large personnel of New Zealand employees, the Texas Company can also be said to have fostered a New Zealand industry. A visit to any of the company’s New Zealand terminals reveals a standardised, scrupulous neatness which distinguishes the Texaco plants anywhere in the 46 countries of the world in which the company operates. The terminal at Auckland is a case in point. This is situated in Daldy Street, Freeman’s Bay, which is Auckland's big oil centre, and where a special wharf has been constructed for the handling of big oil shipments in bulk. A GARDEN PLANT The Texaco plant is a revelation of studied order. In appearance it more resembles a well-laid-out park. A special staff of gardeners is employed to keep the lawns and flower beds in perfect order. Set between the buildings and the tanks these add a nice relieving note to the surrounding industrial landscape. This is quite a new touch in industrial enterprise. The Texas Company’s officials state that they aim to make tlieir terminals something to be proud of, and for that reason are glad to have people see them and approve them. On entering the terminal, and examining the details of the equipment, the outside appearance of studied' order and meticulous plauning is confirmed. Tho bulk petroleum products will be pumped from the new wharf direct to tho huge tanks at the terminal. The present tank equipment is four large tanks. These are of the very latest gas-proof type, and will be painted with aluminium paint, which is not only sightly but is the best for deflecting the sun’s rays. It also helps considerably to prevent loss of spirit through evaporation. The tankers themselves at the wharf will provide the pumping equipment for conveying the spirit to the tanks, but a further pumping plant at the terminal will convey requirements to the horizontal tanks in Jellicoe Street, which will supply, by gravity, the company’s own tank trucks. These big trucks will, of course, carry Texaco motor oil as well as spirit. EXTENSIVE OPERATIONS All of the road wagons are painted the t.ttractive Texaco red and are operated by uniformed drivers. As with all the equipment they are kept in spotless condition. In addition to the great bulk warehouses for the storage of motor spirit and motor oils and greases in drums and cases, a complete laboratory is being erected at the terminal for the exhaustive analysis of each shipment on arrival, so that the highest standard of Texaco products will be maintained. Quite a feature of the plant is the elaborate precautions taken to prevent anything in the nature of a fire. The terminal has its own fire department which is kept in practice by regular monthly drill. But in order that the call for brigade services will he negligible, fire extinguishers and sand boxes are kept at regular intervals. The usual precautions are of course maintained in dealing with the possible generation of .static electricity on tank wagons which is a cause of fire. The Texas Company is the only company which sells its products in every State in America. It has li refineries and 2,500 bulk stations throughout the United States, but these are by no means the sum total of its ramifications. The company owns no less than seven sawmills and thousands of acres of forest. These sawmills supply timber for 65,000 cases of reliued petroleum which are Packed at Port Arthur, Texas, each day, and for 15,000 cases per day at Eos Angeles. This is addition to bulk business. . The Texas Company has also the iargest asphalt refining plant in the world at Port Neches, Texas. It has its own sulphur mines; sulphur being used in refining of gasoline. Fuller’s earth being employed in the filtering Process, whict. gives Texaco Motor Oil its clear, golden colour, the company “t us its own Fuller’s earth mines at Riverside, Texas. During the war it maintained its own shipyards and built its own ships and ships for the United States Government, at Bath, Maine. WATCHING THE GAME Tou may be stiff and sore tomorrow if you fail to rub in ELLIMAN'S EMBROCATION. Athletes use it.—l 9.