Auckland Airport fuel supply obliterated by digger

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#1868786 19-Sep-2017 17:22

Air NZ sends empty 777-200 to WLG to refuel

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/97009580/air-new-zealand-refueling-long-haul-planes-in-wellington-as-auckland-jet-fuel-crisis-deepens

Oblivian

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#1868834 19-Sep-2017 20:12

The repair process..

And oops

Tuesday's update shows the problems are broadening, with stopovers in the Pacific depleting supplies there.

So much for stopping in at Fiji

hence the WLG stop

k1wi

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#1868892 20-Sep-2017 00:26

I remember back when APEC was in Auckland airlines were tanking in fuel.

It sure is interesting to see how the airlines/big oil are implementing contingency plans. Infrastructure redundancy doesn't have to be the same mode (i.e. when the earthquake closed the Picton to Chch train line it was overland trucking & coastal shipping that provided redundancy, rather than an additional train line). So it would be super interesting to see how the costs (including loss of business) shake out.

jpoc

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#1869052 20-Sep-2017 09:55

Surely you could just build a couple of access points /pumping facilities on the pipeline. One third and then two thirds of the way down from the refinery.

Then, in the event of a leak, you would only need to truck fuel for one third of the length of the whole pipeline in order to skip the fault.

That would be almost as good as having a second pipeline for a usefully lower cost.

Kraven

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#1869088 20-Sep-2017 10:38

jpoc:

Surely you could just build a couple of access points /pumping facilities on the pipeline. One third and then two thirds of the way down from the refinery.

Then, in the event of a leak, you would only need to truck fuel for one third of the length of the whole pipeline in order to skip the fault.

That would be almost as good as having a second pipeline for a usefully lower cost.

Unless, like in this case, the pipe is broken 8km south of the refinery.

EDIT: Just re-read the post, I think I get the suggestion now, ignore the comment above!

Handle9

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#1869111 20-Sep-2017 10:58

jpoc:

Surely you could just build a couple of access points /pumping facilities on the pipeline. One third and then two thirds of the way down from the refinery.

Then, in the event of a leak, you would only need to truck fuel for one third of the length of the whole pipeline in order to skip the fault.

That would be almost as good as having a second pipeline for a usefully lower cost.

Except you can't take the full volume of the pipeline into a tanker. There's no way to push the same volume when you are going from a big pipe into a little pipe then into a tanker, driving it down to another point then into a small pipe then into a big pipe. You'd end up with a tiny percentage of your pipeline volume.

Then there's the physical configuration of the pumps, which won't be designed for suction etc etc etc.

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#1869119 20-Sep-2017 11:12

jpoc:

Surely you could just build a couple of access points /pumping facilities on the pipeline. One third and then two thirds of the way down from the refinery.

Then, in the event of a leak, you would only need to truck fuel for one third of the length of the whole pipeline in order to skip the fault.

That would be almost as good as having a second pipeline for a usefully lower cost.

I like this idea.

The obvious? place for these would be at the pumping stations at Kumeu and Wellsford. It's not just a matter of a plug on the side of the pipe. You would need some way to isolate the pipeline above and below each access point, and have some kind of reservoir/tank farm.

But here's some maths:

The pipeline runs 300-400 cubic metres/hr. A road tanker is about 30,000 litres = 30 cubic metres. So the pipeline is the equivalent of about 10-14 road tankers per hour 24x7 i.e. a tanker every 5 minutes. It takes about half an hour to empty/fill a tanker, so you need 5-7 tankers simultaneously unloading, so each of these access points would be the size of a significant truck depot. If there's an hour's drive (based on a guesstimate of 3 hours drive between Wiri and Marsden Point -- Google Maps says 2h8m by car) between access points, then in a perfect world 24 road tankers (6 loading, 6 unloading, 6 full on the road, 6 empty returning) would be in use 24x7. Probably you'd need twice as many in the real world? And 3 drivers per tanker (short-term, 4 long-term).

By comparison, trucking fuel all the way from Marsden Point to Wiri would require about twice as many tankers (ideally 6 loading, 6 unloading, 18 full on the road, 18 empty returning). There would be some benefit in having the tankers going direct to the fuel's destination instead of unloading at Wiri to load onto another tanker, so the benefit of the access points would be somewhat less.

Batman

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#1869271 20-Sep-2017 12:27

What's the petrol situation in AKL today?

Jase2985

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#1869338 20-Sep-2017 13:17

Batman:

What's the petrol situation in AKL today?

fine no issues at all

z solved their 95 issue overnight

networkn

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#1869351 20-Sep-2017 13:32

Jase2985:

Batman:

What's the petrol situation in AKL today?

fine no issues at all

z solved their 95 issue overnight

OMG so it wasn't the end of the world. I hate the press in NZ.

wellygary

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#1869356 20-Sep-2017 13:40

WyleECoyoteNZ:

Air NZ sends empty 777-200 to WLG to refuel

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/97009580/air-new-zealand-refueling-long-haul-planes-in-wellington-as-auckland-jet-fuel-crisis-deepens

Apparently its a Dreamliner tonight, before it heads off to BA...

Should keep the plane spotters happy

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#1869359 20-Sep-2017 13:42

networkn:

Jase2985:

Batman:

What's the petrol situation in AKL today?

fine no issues at all

z solved their 95 issue overnight

OMG so it wasn't the end of the world. I hate the press in NZ.