Mor Temor

2.19 Floating Storage Facilities

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Very large floating structures have been used for storing fuel. Constructed like flat tankers (box-shaped) parked side by side, they form an ideal oil storage facility, keeping the explosive, inflammable fluid from populated areas on land. Japan has two major floating oil storage systems. One oil storage facility is located in Shirashima (see Fig. 39) with a capacity of 5.6 million kilolitres while the other is at Kamigoto (see Fig. 40) with a capacity of 4.4 million kilolitres (Watanabi, 2004).

 Fig. 39 Shirashima Floating Oil Storage Base, Japan (Photo courtesy of Shirashima Oil Storage Co Ltd).

 Fig. 40 Kamigoto Floating Oil Storage Base, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan.

John H. Bruns have invented in 1988 new and useful improvements in floating storage building. The invention relates to multi-story building construction (see fig. 41). The cells of the building are hexagonal in cross section and taper horizontally as they extend radially inwardly. A turntable/elevator is located in a shaft opening at or near the center of the building. The building includes floating cells at its bottom, some of which are air tight. Water is pumped into and out from the others, for regulating the vertical position of the building in a body of water. An annular ring of floating material extends about the building immediately below the water line (John, 1988).

Fig. 41 Floating storage building. 

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