Safe and efficient tank cleaning of liquid cargo tankers: a review

Tank cleaning is an important work in the operations of liquid cargo tankers, which plays an important role in connecting the loading and unloading of cargoes during two voyages. This paper summarises the research on safe and efficient tank cleaning for liquid cargo tankers. It first introduces the basic process of tanker cleaning operations of liquid cargo tankers and the relevant requirements of convention and standard. Then, from two aspects of the safety and timeliness of tank cleaning, the main factors affecting the safety and cleaning effectiveness of tank cleaning operations of liquid cargo tankers are summarised, and the research status and effects of these influencing factors are analysed and summarised respectively. Finally, combined with the current research status, the challenges and development prospects of safe and efficient tank cleaning operations are proposed. It has implications for researchers in conducting future research on tank cleaning of liquid cargo tankers.