What is a Gangway?
A gangway is a narrow walkway or platform that provides safe access to a ship, truck, or train.
Gangways are typically used for two purposes: to allow passage or people and/or cargo to/from docks, moored marine vessels, or aircraft, or in the maintenance and loading/unloading of land-based trucks and trains. The models used for ships or boats are typically long so that they don’t slip off platforms or provide unsafe crossing for personnel walking on them and terms like “tower,” “truss,” or “telescoping” are added to better describe how and where the marine loading platforms are used. They can also be referred to as accommodation ladder and the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and other government agencies refer to these platforms as brows. The types of gangways used for loading/unloading trucks or railcars are typically shorter in length, and span gap from vehicle to a platform, giving workers and personnel access to load, unload or inspect the vehicle. They also may include additional safety or technical features to assist workers.
Aviation gangways, also called jet bridges, airstairs, or boarding ramps, are generally used to allow passengers to board and deplane aircraft, and come in mobile varieties, as well as tunnel-like versions that connect to terminals.
What is a berthing aid system, and what does it do?
Berthing is one of the maneuvers with the highest risk of accidents in a ship’s routine. While it is true that there are mechanisms, such as fenders, to prevent damages caused from collisions while berthing, when we speak of large-volume ships or ships with sensitive cargo, fenders may not be enough.
Every year, logistics companies and ports invest large amounts in the repair of ships and facilities as a result of direct blows against the dock. What is more, these accidents can cause spillage, with a huge environmental and economic cost. Over the past few years, this reality has led to great innovations in berthing aid systems.
A BAS (Berthing Aid System) is a real-time information system that provides for safe navigation and efficient transport. As its name would indicate, it helps while berthing, reducing human error. Thanks to the real-time data it provides pilots and land crew, the operation is improved.
Some noteworthy advantages of using a berthing aid system are:
Reduced operational costs and damages to the dock, fenders and ships.
Increased safety control and protection over surroundings.
Real-time monitoring, data register, reports, reproductions and records.
Smart analysis of the multiple variables involved in berthing.
This is an IT system with a network architecture of integrated equipment and communication interfaces. The BAS system may have one control station, or several, including portable devices to control the different modules.Berthing aid system functions
Listen, create and innovate
Rather than supply a separate meter skid to control the flow of the product into the tank, Loadtec employed a technique developed on a previous multi-position rail loading project in Saudi Arabia.
The metering and control components are all mounted on the loading arm standpost. This provides the customer with a neat solution which is shipped in two boxes to site and can be assembled in a few hours.
It further eliminates the need for site run spool pieces between the two packages and allows installation to take place in less than one day.
Loadtec also supplied a control system with batch controller which connected to the site PLC (programmable logic controller) providing assurance to the operators in the control room that all the loading conditions had been met before loading commences. Because the loading process would take a number of hours, the panel was designed to be fully automated but also readable by a security camera watched by a remote operator. The starting point was the platform, this included a large working area, double flight stairs to ground and a canopy over the working area.
This arrived at site from Loadtec’s UK facility in a semi-pre-assembled state. Site time involved bolting the sub-assemblies together and mounting on the foundations.
Next the folding stair, meter skid and top loading arm delivered from the Zip-Load factory in Italy.
These all arrived and were installed by the site team following the IKEA-type instructions provided. The final visit by a Loadtec Service commissioning engineer was to set up the system and ensure everything was working in line with theoperating philosophy.
Bottom Loading Arm
OPW Bottom Loading Arm Systems are ideal for loading and unloading petroleum products, chemicals and liquefied gases, and offer numerous benefits over conventional top-loading systems:
Improved safety since operator remains on the ground during loading/unloading
Quicker connections reduce overall loading/unloading time
Bottom loading systems create less turbulence in the tank, reducing the danger of generating static electricity.
Bottom loading reduces vapors and the system can be adapted to also recover displaced vapors
Tanks can be filled faster and several compartments can be loaded simultaneously
Bottom-loading islands are simpler and cheaper to build than top-loading racks
Why Valve is called Valve?
To tell the truth, the nonexistent Half-Life 3 has perhaps been more documented on the net than the reasons that led Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington, the other founder of Valve, to choose Valve as their company name. Why did the two men retain such an unattractive name (Valve, in English, means valve, or tap, and is used to regulate the flow of a flow, like water or gas)?
Yes, Valve refers to a valve. And it’s not a valve (you follow?)
Precisely, this choice owes nothing to chance. According to a report broadcast on G4 (an American television channel devoted to video games, like Game One), we learn from the mouth of Greg Coomer that the function of a valve reflects the experience that the very young studio was looking for ” flow ”towards the public, in the same way as we open the tap more or less to pass more or less flow.
With Valve, explains Greg Coomer, who was then presented as a game designer by G4, this name was intended to mean that it ” It was about controlling the flow of an entertaining experience by having control over that control to decide when to increase or decrease it. It was a compelling metaphor “.
Moreover, in a old Valve website page, but which can still be found in web archives, Greg Coomer is credited with having ” helped give the company the Valve name “. He is also said to have directed the first video game project Valve ever canceled – which is not very good. These mentions appeared on a 2003 version of the site. They have since been withdrawn.
The reasons why Valve is called this way naturally allow us to understand why the name chosen for its online content distribution platform is Steam (which translates to Vapeur in French). Indeed, steam here refers to video games, that is to say the entertaining experience mentioned by Greg Coomer which circulates in the pipes, that Valve regulates by playing with the tap.
For the record, other names were considered for a while before being abandoned.
A Brief Introduction of Marine Valves
When a ship is in operation, it needs to be dealt with many problems. It is necessary to solve those problems in order to make the ship run smoothly. Marine valve is a very important accessory of ships, which is mainly used to control the pressure, flow rate and flow direction of the liquid in the pipeline of the ship. If the liquid in the ship cannot be controlled, it will have a great impact on the operation of the ship. Therefore, marine valves play a very critical role in the operation of the whole ship.
This article is mainly introduced from two aspects: types of marine valves and characteristics of marine valves. If you are interested, please continue to read the following.
The types of marine valves

(1) Truncation type: such as gate valve, stop valve, plug valve, ball valve, butterfly valve, needle valve, diaphragm valve, etc. Truncation type are also called closed-circuit valves and cut-off valves, which are used to connect or cut off the medium in pipelines.

(2) Non-return type: for instance, check valve, also called one-way valve or non-return valve. The check valve is an automatic valve, and its function is to prevent the medium in the pipeline from flowing back, the pump and the drive motor from reversing, and the container medium from leaking. The bottom valve of the water pump suction pipe also belongs to the non-return type.

(3) Safety type: such as safety valve, explosion-proof valve, accident valve, etc. The function of the safety valve is to prevent the medium pressure in the pipeline or device from exceeding the specified value, thus achieving the purpose of safety protection.

(4) Regulation category: such as regulating valve, throttle valve and pressure reducing valve, whose function is to regulate the pressure, flow and other parameters of medium.

(5) Shunt category: such as distribution valve, three-way valve and drain valve. The function is to distribute, separate or mix the media in the pipeline.

(6) Special purpose: such as pigging valve, vent valve, blowdown valve, exhaust valve, filter, etc. Exhaust valve is an essential auxiliary component in pipeline system, which is widely used in boilers, air conditioners, oil and natural gas, water supply and drainage pipelines. It is often installed at the commanding heights or bends to eliminate excess gas in the pipeline and improve the use efficiency of the pipeline and reduce energy consumption.