Exciting News! CargoSurveyor Tools 1.7.2 for iOS Got a Boost with New Modules & Features:

Get ready for an improved experience with the latest updates to CargoSurveyor Tools for iOS! Our dedicated team has been working tirelessly to bring you new modules and features that will enhance your overall experience and boost customer satisfaction.

CargoSurveyor Tools for iOS is a comprehensive tool for cargo and bunker surveyors, loss control superintendents and other oil industry professionals. It replaces the need for laptop, hard copy ASTM tables and company forms and can perform various cargo surveys and produce reports, including ullage reports, transfer summaries, bunker survey reports, statements of facts, VEF reports, slop reports, sampling reports, preloading reports, OBQ and ROB reports, time sheets, and ship particulars.

The new Transfer Summary module

Reports can be emailed as a pdf attachment or saved as png files, with file sharing enabled. It supports both SI Metric and Imperial units, can calculate weights and volumes for crude oil, products, lubrication oils, and special applications, and has a configurable wedge calculator for OBQ/ROB calculations.

The user can import a company logo and enter default email addresses, and choose calculation and report settings. Reports can be saved with a custom name and copied as a template for future projects.

We have added a module “Record of Hatch and Valve Seals”, allowing you to quickly create a list of all seals used for valves and hatches in just minutes. You can track up to 200 seals and their status for a vessel with ease, making it a game-changer for clients requiring sealing guarantees.

We’ve also added a “Record of Discharge Agreements” module, perfect for situations where terminals require a specific discharge sequence. This module can serve as a binding instruction for vessels; this concept is used by many oil terminals globally.

The new “Record of Heating Coil Testing” module makes it effortless to keep track of heating coils and their performance.

The Transfer Summary module got a major overhaul, with reports tailored to your operation criteria – loading or discharging, crude oil or other oil, and terminal or ship-to-ship. The user can specify the desired units to calculate and print, including GSV, MTVac, MTAir, LTons, Bbls, Gallons. The interface now includes additional fields for outturn figures, ship load port figures for discharging operations as well as fields for BSW when handling Crude Oil.

In the report a comparison is made between Bill of Lading and quantity loaded or discharged, Bill of Lading and Outturn, figures with and without VEF, and a comparison between Gross and Nett, in case the cargo is Crude Oil. In case of Crude Oil, BSW for BL, Ship Loaded and Outturn can be specified in the module. Also outturn figures and ship load port figures (in case of a discharge operation) can be specified. For creating the Certificate of Quantity, the user can choose either BL, ship figures or outturn figures.

In the Ship Particulars Report, we’ve added a new feature that allows you to add an image selected by the user to the Report: The particulars report now has a custom image on the first page. This image can be selected from the phone’s gallery when viewing the pdf file, and it will be printed at the top of the first page. In order to be able to do this, the user simply needs to download an image from a web browser, or from an email etc. You can now also add your own items in this report, so you’re not limited to the initial list of entries.

Both the Time Sheet Report and the Ship Particulars Report now have automatic line formatting, allowing for long lines of text to be entered without any issue.

Many modules have been updated for improved performance and / or for better visualisation, and to ensure optimal compatibility with iOS 16.2.

Overall, these updates are designed to make your life easier and help you stay on top of important information. We’re excited for you to try them out and see how they can benefit you and your business.

In our next blog post we will elaborate on the latest features and changes that have been made to the various modules. Keep an eye out for more updates and features in the future!

For our Android users: please bear with us, as we don’t have enough resources to update both versions at the same time. An updated Android version will be available as soon as we have completed the Android update.

CargoSurveyor for iPhone can be downloaded here.

We should like to advise everyone who has downloaded the app in the past to update as soon as possible to ensure a flawless CargoSurveyor experience.

Calculating volumes and weights for MTBE and FAME using OilcalcsPro for Desktop

In this article we discuss how to calculate volumes and weights for products like MTBE (Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether) and FAME (Fatty Acid Methyl Esters) using density correction instead of thermal expansion coefficient:

While products such as MTBE can be calculated using their thermal expansion coefficient (alpha), there are real world scenarios in which it is impossible to do so for example due to lack of information regarding alpha at the loading site.

Using OilcalcsPro for desktop, we can calculate VCF, volumes and weights by selecting ‘Special Applications’ in the product selector when dealing with products such as MTBE, FAME, denatured Fuel Ethanol etc.

In the latest version of OilcalcsPro there is now an entry field for density correction in addition to the field for thermal expansion coefficient, as can be seen in below picture:

In the above example a density at 20°C of 0.7409 is used. In order to select density 20, you can either use the up and down arrow in the density listbox, or double-click an entry to show the entire list.

Using the given density at 20°C, the observed volume and temperature and the density correction (which is in this example 0.00103 / °C) we arrive at VCF, volumes and weights as seen in above screenshot.

Please note that while the thermal expansion coefficient can be entered as either /°C or /°F, the density correction is always given as /°C.

The latest version of OilcalcsPro For Desktop can be downloaded here. This version is targeted to Windows versions below 10.

The newly developed Windows 10 version can be downloaded here.  

An updated instruction manual has been written for both versions, which can be downloaded directly from within the app. The manuals can also be downloaded from our blog, please refer to the links in the top of this page: ‘User manuals for Oil Calculators and other apps’.

If you want to unlock the demo version to the full version (to get access to the ASTM 2004 tables, as well as to all modules), you can buy a license code here: Goto Paypal

You can also buy the license code from within the app, in the About screen, where a button ‘Buy License Code’ will take you to the same Paypal payment site.

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The updated user manual for CargoSurveyor Tools for iPhone is now available for download!

We have updated the user manual for CargoSurveyor Tools to match the contents and capabilities available in version 1.7.3.

The manual can be downloaded using this link:

 CargoSurveyor Tools user manual version 1.7.3 2023

Alternatively, the link can be found on this page:

User manuals for Oil Calculators and other apps

CargoSurveyor Tools for iPhone can be downloaded here.

OilcalcsPro for Desktop – new features added

We are excited to announce the release of the latest version of OilcalcsPro for Desktop – version 1.0.4.5:

Several improvements have been made in various areas, with the following features / additions being most prominent:

– A module for calculating volumes and weights of Aromatic components such as Benzene, Toluene, CycloHexane etc has been added. The module calculates Aromatics in accordance with ASTM standard D1555 and D1555 M, and can show figures in both SI Metric and Imperial units.

– The main calculator screen now has an option when calculating Special Applications to choose between applying a thermal expansion coefficient and a density correction (in /deg Celsius). The reason for this is that there are various places (such as a number of oil terminals in Brazil for instance) where instead of a thermal expansion coefficient a density correction is provided when loading products such as MTBE.

– We have added conversion calculations (corresponding to the old tables 4/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/52/56/57/58) to the Oil Conversion screen.

– The LPG/NGL conversion screen now also has a panel for calculating CTL (both table 2007 and table 1952 versions).

– The calculator now checks upon start the windows version that it is running on. If Windows 10 is detected, the app will ask the user if they want to update to the dedicated Windows 10 version (at no additional cost, if you already have a license code, that code is valid for the Windows 10 version as well). If you answer the question with ‘Yes’, the windows 10 version will immediately be downloaded. To run it, just extract the contents of the downloaded zip file to a folder of your choice and run the executable. The only requirement is that the files and folders within the zip file all remain together as they are:

The reason for the new version is that the original calculator runs on all versions from Windows 7 and up. The dedicated Win 10 version runs only guaranteed on Win10 machines, in an optimized manner. The functionality of the dedicated Windows 10 version is exactly the same as the original version.

The same modifications have been applied to our iOS and Android apps as well, and updated versions of these have been in the App Store and Google Play store for some time.

The latest version of OilcalcsPro For Desktop can be downloaded here.

The newly developed Windows 10 version can be downloaded here. 

An updated instruction manual has been written for both versions, which can be downloaded directly from within the app. The manuals can also be downloaded from our blog, please refer to the links in the top of this page: ‘User manuals for Oil Calculators and other apps’.

If you want to unlock the demo version to the permanent pro version, buy a license code here: Goto Paypal

You can also buy the license code from within the app, in the About screen, where a button ‘Buy License Code’ will take you to the same Paypal payment site:

To briefly introduce the Aromatics calculator, we refer to the below screenshots:

To get to the Aromatics calculator, click ‘Tools’ in the main screen, then ‘Aromatics Calculation’ in the tools screen:

When using Metric format, density can be at either 15 or 20 °C, and volume is in M³. Temperature is in °C. After selecting a product from the list (for instance Benzene) a corresponding default density is automatically entered, which can be edited. Once a temperature is entered VCF, standard volumes and weights are automatically calculated. To change to Imperial units, click the ‘Metric’ button, the text will change to ‘Imperial’, density will now be at 60F, and volume will be in gallons by default but can be changed to barrels. Temperature is now in °F:

Main Calculator changes:

As mentioned above, the calculation of Special Applications can now be done in two ways: either using a thermal expansion coefficient, or using a density correction. An new field has been added to the calculator in order to enter a density correction:

As can be seen in the above screenshot, a density correction of 0.00103 /°C has been entered. If you want to use a thermal expansion coefficient instead, simply enter the value for alpha in the thermal expansion coefficient field; the field for density correction will automatically be cleared and the calculation will be carried out with alpha instead.

Reverse calculations (such as entering a weight of 5000 MTons air and an observed temperature to calculate the observed volume etc) can also be done with Special Applications, just like with crude, products and luboils.

Conversion tables added to the Oil Conversions screen:

Below the list of tables 5/6/23/24/53/54/59 and 60, the 2004 equivalents of the following 1980 version tables have been added:

– table 4: Galls/Bbls at 60°F to Ltrs 15°C for API at 60°F

– table 8: Pounds per Galls air/vac at 60°F for API at 60°F

– table 9: STons air/vac per Galls/Bbls at 60°F for API at 60°F

– table 10: Galls/Bbls per Short Ton air/vac at 60°F for API at 60°F

– table 11: LTons air/vac per Gall/Bbl at 60°Ffor API at 60°F

– table 12: Galls/Bbls per Long Ton air/vac at 60°F for API at 60°F

– table 13: MT air/vac per Galls/Bbls at 60°F for API at 60°F

– table 14: M³ per Short/Long Ton air/vac at 15°C for API at 60°F

– table 52: Bbls at 60°F to M³ at 15°C for reldens or dens at 15°C

– table 56: Converting weight in vacuo < – > air

– table 57: LTons/STons per M³ at 15°C in vacuo and air

– table 58: MTons air/vac to Galls/Bbls at 60°F basis density 15°C

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The LPG/NGL conversion screen now also calculates VCF for density at 15°C, either using the 1952 table or table 2007:

Note: screen shots have all been taken with the Windows 10 version, which uses a slightly different color scheme and controls layout compared to the original version.

The complete functionality of the Windows 10 version will be discussed in another blog post shortly, for newcomers.

Oilcalcs for iPhone iOS 14 – version 1.4.2 released

Oilcalcs for iPhone iOS 14 version 1.4.2 has been approved by Apple and is now available for download here.

We are happy to report that the new version of Oilcalcs is now in the App store. This is a major update which is available for all iPhones with a minimum iOS version of 12.

The new version of OilCalcs comes with a slate of additions and improvements and is now fully in sync with its Android counter part:

A new module ‘Aromatic Calculations’ has been added, enabling the calculation of VCF, weights and volumes for products such as Benzene, Toluene, Cumene, CycloHexane, ParaXylene etc. Selecting a product and entering density and temperature will give the VCF. If a volume is also entered, GSV and weights are also calculated:

Aromatic Calculations can be performed both in SI Metric and Imperial mode, in accordance with ASTM D1555M and ASTM D1555. When selecting an aromatic product, an initial density is automatically entered, but this can be overridden and the user can fill in the density as required. In SI Metric mode density can be entered as either density at 15°C or density at 20°C and volume is entered in M³. When in Imperial mode, the density is entered as density at 60°F, while either Gallons or Barrels can be used to enter volume:

In the Oil Conversion screen the following tables (calculations as per API MPMS 2004 using the old table numbers as reference) have been added to the existing list of tables: table 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 52, 56, 57, 58:

In the main calculator screen a new field has been added for density correction. This field is only visible when ‘Special Applic’ is selected as oil type. The user can opt to use either a thermal expansion coefficient (alpha), or a density correction. When one is entered, the other is automatically cleared. This is a very suitable solution for calculating products such as MTBE or FAME. In various ports around the world (in for example Brazil) density of the product is given as density at 20°C in vac, and a density correction (in /deg Celsius) is provided instead of alpha. When dealing with FAME, if no standard density is given but only a measured density and density correction, this can be converted to a standard density in vac at either 15 or 20ºC. The method can be used both in SI Metric and Imperial mode. In Imperial mode GSV will be shown as M³ at 60°F whereas in SI Metric mode the GSV will be shown as M³ at 15°C or 20°C depending on the density format used:

 

The changes made in the main calculator screen have also been reflected in the Quantity Editor, which has been redesigned for better ease of use. The Quantity Editor is used for editing entries that were saved from the main calculator screen using the ‘Export’ button:

 

The user manual has been updated to reflect all changes and additions, and is available for download on this blog, please use the button ‘User manuals for oil calculators and other apps’ in the top of this page.

 

Oilcalcs for iPhone can be downloaded from the App Store here:

OilCalcsPro version 1.4.1 for Android adds additional capability!

Today a new version of OilCalcsPro for Android (version 1.4.1) was published.

The new version contains additional functionality as requested by some of our users, as well some improvements and bugfixes:

– Added the ability to choose between entering a thermal expansion coefficient (alpha) and a density correction factor when working with ‘Special applications’ such as MTBE, if for example no thermal expansion coefficient is known: in various ports around the world when dealing with products such as MTBE, a density correction factor (in /deg C) is provided instead of a thermal expansion coefficient. To enable calculating VCF, volumes and weights in that case, an additional field ‘density correction’ is now provided when selecting ‘Special applic’ as cargo type:

Using density correction to calculate weights & volume.

– Reverse calculation, for example from MTons in vacuum to all other units is also possible. In the main calculator screen the various calculations differ depending on whether density at 20°C or 15°C is used. In SI Metric mode when using relative density, observed density or API, the density value is internally converted to density at 15ºC and a GSV in M³ at 15ºC; when using density at 20ºC, the resulting GSV is at 20ºC. When in Imperial mode, all densities are converted internally to relative density and a GSV in M³ at 60°F. For the calculation of ‘Special applications’ the calculation methods are also split between using density at 15 and density at 20°C.

Calculating all weights * volume from MTV

– Updated the Quantity Editor to reflect the changes made in the main calculator screen:

Editing loaded report in the quantity editor

– The oil conversion screen has been updated to include calculations for ‘Special applications’ wherever possible: this was not yet the case for all conversion tables. The following tables are available: 5, 6, 23, 24, 53, 54, 59, 60, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 52, 56, 57, 58. The calculations used are all basis API MPMS 2004 version (with 2007 amendments).

Table 6 all values

table58

tables5-8

tables9-14

tables52-58

In the Aromatics calculator a bug prevented displaying the two groups of Aromatic HydroCarbons using the temperature in °F when using Imperial mode: this has now been corrected.

The instruction manual has been updated and can be downloaded from the page in this blog with the title ‘User Manuals for Oil Calculators’.

The latest version can be downloaded from Google Play here:

OilCalcsPro version 1.4.0 for Android published!

Today a new version of OilCalcsPro for Android (version 1.4.0) was published.

The new version contains various updates and improvements:

– Added a new module, for calculating aromatics in accordance with ASTM D1555 and D1555M.

– Changed the way Bbls at 60°F are calculated when using density at 20°C to more accurately match the conversion from M³ at 20°C to Bbls at 60°F.

– Updated the Quantity Editor to reflect the changes made in the main calculator screen.

The calculation of aromatics uses ASTM D1555 to calculate VCF as well as weights and volumes using Imperial Standards, while D1555M uses SI Metric standards. To use this module, simply follow these steps:

1:Set SI Metric or Imperial Standards using the button ‘Metric’: by default the aromatics calculator uses the SI Metric Standard. When you press the ‘Metric’ button, the button title changes to ‘Imperial’, indicating that calculations are performed using the Imperial Standard:

 

2:Select the aromatic product you wish to calculate for, using the drop down (showing ‘Benzene’ by default):

3:When using the SI Metric Standard, select either ‘density 15C’ or ‘density 20C’:

4:When using the Imperial Standard, select either ‘Gallons’ or ‘Bbls’ as volume unit:

5:When you select an aromatics product, a default density corresponding to the selected product is automatically entered in the density field. If your density is different, simply update the density field.

6:VCF is calculated using either 4 or 5 decimals, depending on whether you have chosen to use 1980 tables or 2004 tables in ‘Settings’.

The instruction manual has been updated and can be downloaded from the page in this blog with the title ‘User Manuals for Oil Calculators’.

The latest version can be downloaded from Google Play here:

Cargo Surveyor for iOS version 1.6.2 – Transfer executive summary report

This tutorial deals with the Transfer executive summary report.

In the previous tutorial we discussed the updated ullage report, and the different options that are available to us to tailor the ullage report to our specific requirements.

Today we will discuss the updated version (1.6.4) of the transfer executive summary report:

In the previous session concerning the ullage report we completed generating an ullage report using Extended Layout, and we discussed how to generate the ullage report with various options, send it by mail and export it to csv.

Once a cargo operation is completed, we can use the transfer executive summary utility to:

• Calculate cargo discharged or loaded (in the case of part discharge, and in case of loading multiple parcels)
• Calculate comparisons between ship received / shore supplied, or in case of STS operations mother / daughter discharged / received
• Calculate comparisons between Bill of lading figures and ship discharged, or Bill of lading figures and ship received

NOTE: an update to the app was published on Saturday (July 11th), fixing a bug that caused GSV and weights to show incorrectly under certain circumstances.

To get to the Transfer report editor we first need to go to the list of reports (‘Pdf/jpg Reports’), which can be accessed from the ‘More’ tab, press the ‘Reports’ button and then select ‘Txfer Reports’ from the list of available reports.

Select Txfer Reports from the list

This will bring you to the Transfer Summary Editor. A dialog is shown initially to let you choose between Standard and Extended Ullage reports for the summary:

Choose Extended or Standard Layout

For this exercise we will select Standard Layout. Once the selection is made, the dialog disappears, and you will see that the ‘View Summary’ and ‘View Pdf’ buttons are disabled. They will only be enabled once you have selected both an ullage report for before and after the operation.

Above the two buttons ‘View Summary’ and ‘View Pdf’ there is a switch for selecting whether the report is for the ship, or for the client; the difference is that if the report is ‘For Ship’, it will simply list the quantities before and after the operation and the total quantity loaded or discharged. If the report is ‘For Client’, aside from the quantities before and after the cargo operation, comparisons are shown between Bill of Lading and transferred quantity, and quantity transferred to or from terminal or other vessel (in case of STS). Also in case of STS, VEF corrected transferred quantities are calculated and shown.

In the older versions (pre 1.6.2) there was no option to insert a bill of lading date, and record the VEF for mother and daughter vessel in case of STS.

For each unit MTAir / MTVac / LTons etc you can choose whether the value should be printed or not. The setting ‘Apply VCF to totals only’ in general Settings applies here just like in ullage reports: if this is set to Yes, GSV will be calculated basis total net GOV corrected for average temperature instead of calculating GSV for each tank.

Inside the editor you can select the two ullage reports to use for producing the transfer report. When you press ‘Select’ next to the ‘Choose Before’ label, the list with available ullage reports will appear. You can select the one you want to use, choose whether you want to use the totals of all grades or one particular grade, and after that the name of that ullage report appears instead of the ‘Choose Before’ text. The same goes for the ‘Choose After’ selection:

Select grade or totals

‘Before’ report selected

‘After’ report selected

As you can see in the picture above, our two earlier generated ullage reports have been selected: ‘loaded’ and ‘after discharging’, and for each report the grade ‘Rmg’ has been selected. We could also have selected ‘Totals’ in this case since each report only contains one grade, but if the vessel were loading or discharging multiple grades then we would definitely have to select here the grade that we want to be calculated only.

Below the ‘For Ship’ switch there are two buttons:

– View Summary: when pressed, this will show the total quantity loaded or discharged, in a new window:

View Summary

– View Pdf: when pressed, this will generate the actual pdf (or jpg) file, and allow you to send by email.

Now let’s have a look at the full view of the transfer report editor when ‘For Client’ is selected:

Item 3 under the buttons ‘View Pdf’ and ‘View Summary’ allows you to enter the Bill of Lading details. It also lets you select which units will be printed in the transfer summary report, using the switches ‘Yes’/’No’ in front of each unit.

There are switches for mtons vac/air, ltons, M³ at 15°C and M³ at 60°F, Bbls and Gallons. In case the vessel is doing an STS transfer, there are two fields for applying VEF.

Item 4 under these switches lets you select whether the cargo operation is at a shore terminal or doing ship to ship. If you select ‘Terminal’, the fields for VEF are set to hidden.

Under the ‘Terminal/Ship to Ship’ switch you can enter details of the quantity loaded or discharged from / to terminal or other vessel:

As you can see we have entered here quantities both for Bill of Lading and for quantity received by the daughter vessel Alfa Centaur. Whether we use M³ at 15°C or M³ at 60°F depends on whether we have selected SI Metric or Imperial in general settings: in Europe you generally use SI Metric and consequently M³ at 15°C; in the US or other countries where Imperial units are adopted you use M³ at 60°F. The two switches for M³ at 15°C and 60°F cancel each other out: if you select ‘Yes’ for M³ at 15°C, the switch for M³ at 60°F is automatically set to ‘No’ and vice versa.

After filling in the required quantities and other details we can now press ‘View Pdf’ and the pdf report will be generated, as shown below. The report has been printed using SI Metric units in general settings.

If you wanted to print the report in Imperial units, then you should also select M³ at 60°F for the GSV Bbls under item 3 and item 4 and instead of M³ at 15°C, otherwise GSV quantities will not match.

Executive Summary report

Just like the other reports, once we generate the pdf (and jpg file, if we have set ‘Autosave pdf to photos’ on), we get the option to send the report by email.

In the mean time, for those who are interested in Cargo Surveyor for iOS: the app can be downloaded here:

If you have any queries, suggestions, comments, criticism about the app or this blog post, please let us know! We always do our best to accommodate any requests for additions/modifications to our apps if they improve the value!

CargoSurveyor 1.6.2 for iOS – Ullage Reports 101

In this article we discuss the various options that are available to tailor ullage reports to our specific needs.

The ullage reports section in the latest version of CargoSurveyor has two major differences in comparison to the older version:

• While the older versions were limited to a maximum of 26 tanks, the new version can create reports with a maximum of 53 tanks.

• The older versions of the ullage report did not have any configuration options other than the titles in the header. The new version lets the user decide which units need to be printed, whether the VCF is calculated for each individual tank or only for the total cargo volume for each grade, based on the average temperature for that grade.

Aside from that, another albeit minor difference is that the entries on the tank editor screen have slightly changed; in the old version there were three fields for temperature, but these have been replaced with one single entry for temperature, plus one field for ‘tape correction’ as well as a field for ‘water dip’ both in cm/inches. The reason behind this change is that in the ReferenceHeights and Raw Measurements report the user can record his raw ullage and temperature values, so there really is no need for three temperature fields within the tank editor.

Let us first examine where exactly the major differences occur, and what the configurable options are:

1. When we need to create a new ullage report, we first decide on the number of tanks and the tank configuration. Let’s take for example a fuel barge with 9 sets of wing tanks, loading a cargo of heavy fuel oil with a density of 990.

2. Upon opening the app, we go to the ‘Tanks’ tab and press the ‘Extended’ button: the Standard layout gives us a maximum of 7 center tanks plus 7 sets of wing tanks (plus two slop tanks and 3 bottom lines), which is not enough for our barge with 9 sets of wing tanks:

Main entry screen

3. As soon as we press the ‘Extended’ button, the Tank Configurator screen shows up, where we can enter the number 9 in the text box for wing tanks, in the top of the window on the left:

As soon as you enter the number, the ‘New Form’ button becomes enabled:

4. As soon as we press the ‘New Form’ button, the Tank Editor screen shows up, with a dialog on top where you can enter the file name of the report. For this exercise, let’s enter ‘testship’:

5. After pressing ‘OK’, the dialog disappears, and we can now see the tank editor in full, with all tanks showing on the picker. As yet all fields are empty, and since we are going to attend the loading of this barge knowing that she will load just one grade of fuel with a density of 990, we can use the ‘Quickfill’ button to enter in advance the density and grade name for all tanks:

6. After pressing ‘Quickfill’, a dialog disappears, where we can enter values for ullage, water, temperature, density, volume, thermal expansion coefficient (alpha), grade name and a single letter that represents whether we want to apply this information to port side tanks / starboard side tanks / wing tanks/ center tanks / all tanks / odd tanks or even tanks (P/S/W/C/A/O/E).

7. For this exercise we will enter ‘990’ in the ‘Density’ field, and ‘Rmg’ for ‘Grade name’. If we don’t enter a letter for the bottom field, the information will be applied to all tanks:

8. After pressing ‘OK’ you will see that the two values have been entered, and applied to all tanks. The screenshot below shows tank 9S. You will notice that the ‘Quickfill’ button is now disabled; the button is only enabled if the first tank (in this case ‘1P’) is selected.

9. The current example being a barge, we will delete density and grade name for the two slop tanks and the three bottom lines. But first we can use quickfill again to fill all tanks with an oil volume, and set a temperature as well as an ullage for each tank.

For this example, we will enter a volume of 500 M³ for all odd tanks (1, 3 etc), and a volume of 400 M³ for all even tanks, with a temperature of 51.2 ºC for all loaded tanks. We spin the picker back to the first tank to enable ‘Quickfill’, press it and enter the following values:

• ullage: 2.50 mtr

• temperature: 51.2

• volume: 500 M³

• letter ‘O’ (or ‘o’), both small letters and capitals are recognized

Now we press ‘OK’, and press ‘Quickfill’ again, and enter the following values:

• ullage: 3.50 mtr

• temperature: 51.2

• volume: 400 M³

• letter ‘E’ (or ‘e’), both small letters and capitals are recognized

After pressing ‘OK’, we are now done with entering the required data. Now we can erase the data entered in the two slop tanks and three bottom lines. This will need to be done manually, by selecting each tank / bottom line and clearing all fields. It is possible to erase the contents in desired fields for all tanks using Quick fill by entering ‘000’ in each field that you want to be cleared.

10. in order to print our ullage report, there are several things that need to be set up to ensure that the report is printed the way we want. Prior to printing we should also have a look at the totals for our testship, to make sure that we did not make any mistakes, and that the total matches with our expectation:

• First, go to Settings (in the ‘More’ tab), and choose either Metric or Imperial depending on your requirements. For this example, lets go with Metric. When you open the app the first time, the default settings are: Imperial, Tables version 2007, ‘Apply VCF to totals only’ set to No, and ‘Avg temperature basis’ set to Volume, as seen in below screenshot:

Default settings

• Now swipe the switch beside ‘Imperial’ to the left to enable ‘Metric’, and set the switch ‘Apply VCF to totals only’ to yes. This will result in the VCF being calculated only for the total cargo volume, basis the average temperature of the total volume:

– Next, we go to Report / Report Settings. The first time we open the Report Settings, all fields are empty and units to print are all set to Yes. In the top of the Report Settings page there is an icon ‘Your Logo here’, where you can put your own company logo, or a picture taken with the camera. We can fill in some data such as ship name, date, cargo name, draft etc for the report.

Now if you look at the bottom half of the page you will notice there the switches for MTVac / MTAir / LTons / GSV / Bbls which speak sort of for themselves with the exception of GSV and Bbls: since we have set ‘Apply VCF to totals only’ to Yes (see above screenshot), even if we set the GSV switch to yes in Report Settings, only the total GSV will be printed. If we want GSV to be printed for each tank, we would need to set ‘Apply VCF to totals only’ to No. The Bbls switch includes Gallons as well, so if this switch is set to No, Bbls and Gallons are not printed.

If we have multiple grades within one report and we opt to print all grades in the report, then the total GSV will be printed on the first page, and a breakdown with units for each grades will be printed on the second page. If the GSV switch is set to No, the GSV value(s) will not be printed at all.

There is one more switch regarding GSV: GSVUnits, which can be set to either M³ or Liters (at 15ºC or 60ºF depending on whether you are using Metric or Imperial standards). All the switches described here apply to the printing of ullage reports, but the two switches in the Settings page (as seen in above screenshots) apply also to the Totals page, and to Txfer Reports.

Additionally, there is a switch ‘Print All Cargo tanks incl empty:’. If this switch is set to Yes all tanks on the vessel are printed, regardless of whether they contain any cargo or not. If set to No, only tanks belonging to the selected grade, or in the case of printing all grades only tanks that are not empty are printed. We will set this switch to ‘No’.

Next is the open ‘Add bunkers to Ullage Report’. Set this to Yes, to enable entering bunker details for the ullage report. The bunker details can either be entered manually, or imported from an existing bunker report. Since I am assuming that this is the first time we are running the app, we will enter the bunker data manually. We can set the switch for ‘Bunkers Reported in Units’ to for example MTVac, and we can enter a maximum of 6 tanks, with quantities before and after the cargo operation.

Below the list of tank names, there is a switch ‘Before / After’, which we use to enter both the quantities before and after the operation. The other switch ‘FuelOil / DieselOil’ is only used when we import an existing bunker report, to select either fuel oil tank or diesel oil tank quantities, depending on the cargo grade that is being loaded or discharged:

Now that we have adjusted settings according to our needs, we can go to More / Tank Totals and see how the quantity on our testship tallies. Upon pressing the ‘Tank Totals’ button we are asked to choose either Standard or Selected:

Our test ship has an extended layout, so we press Extended and get presented with a list of available ullage reports:

Once we have selected our test ship we get to choose either ‘Rmg’ or ‘Grand Totals’:

Selecting ‘Grand Totals’ will now result in the following display:

Now lets return to Reports, and select ‘Ullage Reports’. Once again we will be asked to choose either Standard or Extended, so we choose Extended and select our ‘testship’ ullage report, and then we select ‘Totals’ when asked to select a grade:

Finally, we are presented with our ullage report. Upon the report being printed, we are asked if we want to email the report:

If we press ‘OK’, the mail application will pop up, with the report attached as a pdf. Within Report Settings we can actually configure email addresses that are automatically set as recipients, or you can manually enter TO addresses. If we press ‘NO’ we are asked if we want to export the report to csv (Comma Separated Value) and we will also be asked if we want to email the exported file. This is all explained in detail in the user manual, which can also be downloaded from this blog. Below the two pages of the actual report:

 

Because we selected ‘Totals’, the density is also printed for each tank. If we had chosen to print only ‘Rmg’, then the density would only be printed in the box with ‘Totals all cargo’, below the table version.

Below the ullage report if we select to print ‘Rmg’, with the ‘Add bunkers to Ullage Report’ set to No, and our Logo set to MMC. The density is now only printed in the ‘Totals all cargo’ box:

If the client requires the VCF to be printed for all tanks, then we must set ‘Apply VCF to totals only’ to No on the Settings page. In that case VCF for all individual tanks will be printed, provided that we have set the GSV switch to Yes in the Report Settings page:

In the bottom of the first three report pages above, you can see the text ‘Put your business legal disclaimer here’; this is another setting in Report Settings, in the upper part. Whatever text you enter there will be saved in the app’s local settings and remain there until you change it. If you have not entered your own customized disclaimer, the app warns you of that when you exit the Report Settings page. The warning can be disabled by selecting ‘Do not show again’. If you set the disclaimer text to empty, no disclaimer will be printed at all.

Details of all settings can be found in the user manual, as mentioned earlier. This completes the Ullage Reports 101 tutorial. In a future tutorial we will discuss the updated version of the transfer / executive summary report.

Stay safe and keep watching this space!

CargoSurveyor for iPhone can be downloaded here.

Major Update for CargoSurveyor Tools for iOS is out!

Today we published the latest version of Cargo Surveyor Tools for iOS, version 1.6.2.

This update comes with a slate of improvements such as bug fixes for most of the scroll views and better keyboard handling, and new features, such as the ability to export / import bunker reports, ullage reports, time sheets and VEF reports, as well as various new settings for deciding which units need to be printed on an ullage report, and for example the option to display bunker figures before and after the cargo operation on the ullage report.

A new user manual reflecting all changes and additions has been compiled (CargoSurveyor iOS user manual version 1.6.2) which can be download from this blog on the page ‘User manuals for oil calculators and other apps’, the link can be found in the top of this page as well.

The exported reports can be imported directly into Excel and with a simple help sheet the user would be able to convert the imported data into a proper excel ullage report, bunker report or VEF report.

Ever since iOS 7, previous versions of the app had problems with scrolling in larger screens in particular when editing data in text fields. Finally most of these problems have been fixed and the user can enter data in the various text fields without the text fields disappearing from view.

In the Settings screen, two options have been added:

• The option to calculate the VCF for each tank, or to calculate the VCF for the totals of all tanks in one grade only

• The option to calculate the average temperature basis total cargo volume, or basis the number of tanks in use

In the Report Settings screen, the following options have been added:

• The option to print all tanks, empty or not, or only print tanks that have cargo

• The option to include a bunker statement in the ullage report

• The option to set the unit used for the bunker statement as Liters / M³ / MTAir / MTVac /LTons / Bbls

• The option to print GSV in Liters or M³

• The option to print or not, for all units individually: MTVac, MTAir, LTons, GSV, Bbls

• When importing an existing bunker report, the option to either use Fuel or Diesel Oil data

As a reminder of the features of this app, the toolbox contains (among others) the following items:

1: Fully configurable ullage forms:

In the new version, the first screen in the ‘Tanks’ tab gives the user a choice between ‘Standard’ and ‘Extended’ layout:

Main entry screen

When selecting ‘Standard’, the user can choose from a minimum set of 5 wing tanks plus two slop tanks, to a maximum set of 7 crosses plus two slop tanks, as well as three bottom lines, a total of 26 entries:

Configure number of tanks

When selecting ‘Extended’, the user can choose from a minimum of 8 center tanks and a maximum set of 16 crosses plus two slop tanks, as well as three bottom lines, a total of 53 entries:

Extended Layout Configuration

Once a configuration has been selected (in the Standard configuration) or entered (in the Extended configuration), the tank editor screen is presented. The tank editor screen is the same for any configuration, regardless of whether standard or extended:

Tank editor using extended layout

A new button has been added to the tank editor, ‘Quickfill’: this allows the user to fill in values for ullage / temperature / water / density / oil volume / alpha and grade name for all tanks or a group of tanks in one single action. This option is handy in case of for example loading a ship with one single grade, where grade name and density for all tanks are the same. The quick fill button is only enabled when the first tank is selected. The values entered can be applied to:

• all wing tanks
• all center tanks
• odd numbered tanks
• even numbered tanks
• all port side tanks
• all starboard side tanks
• all tanks

Quick fill option

Regardless of the program’s main settings, ullages /temperatures/densities/volumes can be entered in either SI Metric or Imperial units. In the same report both Metric and Imperial units can be mixed, the app will automatically convert to the right units during processing.

When the time comes to save/print or email the report, the user can choose whether to use SI Metric or Imperial units, regardless of which units have been used during the creation of the report. An unlimited number of ullage reports can be saved, and existing reports can be cloned in order to create different reports for the same ship (i.e before and after discharging etc).

The report in pdf format can be send as an email attachment from within the app, and can also be saved automatically as a png file to the camera roll. If required, both the png file and the pdf file can then be transferred to a desktop computer for printing.

In the Report Settings the user can choose whether reports should automatically be saved to the camera roll or not. For Ullage Reports, Bunker Reports, VEF Reports and Time Sheets the report can be exported to a csv (Comma Separated Value) file, which can also be sent as an email attachment from within the app.

2: Fully configurable time sheet editor:

The time sheet editor comes with a whole bunch of standard entries but has ample room for new entries as required by the user. Events can be entered into the editor in any order, the app will automatically sort all entries by date and time. An unlimited number of time sheets can be saved, one for each ship and/or event as desired. Like the ullage report, the time sheet can be send as an email attachment from within the app, and can be saved to the camera roll for transferring to a computer:

Time sheet standard entries

Time sheet details editor

3: Configurable wedge calculator:

The app contains a wedge calculator with the following features:

– calculate wedge volume based on ship/tank dimensions

– calculate wedge volume based on tank calibration table volume

– calculate wedge volume using either Metric or Imperial units

Entries made are automatically saved and restored the next time the user opens the wedge calculator.

Wedge volume using tank dimensions

Wedge volume using tank table volume

4: Instant tank totals view per grade, or for all grades together:

After creating an ullage sheet and filling in a grade name, temperature, volume and density (or API) for each tank, the user can view the tank totals, either per grade or the grand totals. The totals screen will give the totals of observed volume, gross standard volume, metric tons etc, as well as the physical average temperature of the cargo.

List of available grades

Totals – Imperial units

Totals – Metric units

Again regardless of what units have been used in the ullage report, the totals can be viewed in either Metric or Imperial units by choosing the desired unit in general settings.

5: Detail view for each tank after entering data:

After entering data in the tank details editor, all data can be viewed for each tank in the Layout configurator screen, using the buttons to select either a tank or a bottom line (in the standard layout configurator), or select a tank using the picker view (in the extended layout configurator):

Details of tank 4P

Select tank using buttons

Select tank using picker

6: Ullage reports are now much more configurable:

With Report Settings, the user can select whether to print or not:

• MTVac
• MTAir
• LTons
• GSV
• Bbls/Gallons

Also, empty tanks can either be included in the report, or omitted. The GSV can be printed as either Liters at 15°C/60°F or M³. Also, if in General Settings ‘Apply VCF to totals only’ is set to Yes, GSV is only printed for totals, not for individual tanks.

Additionally, bunker quantities before and after the cargo operation can be added to the ullage report by setting ‘Add bunkers to Ullage Report’ has been set to Yes in Report Settings. These bunker quantities can either be entered manually, or imported from an existing bunker report.

The user can set the bunker quantity units to either Liters / M³ / MTAir / MTVac / LTons / Bbls.

Settings: in the ‘more’ screen the user has access to a settings panel, where there are options to:

New options in General Settings

– chose ASTM tables 1980 or 2004

– chose SI Metric or Imperial units and methods (i.e. whether to use table  6A or 54A for example)

– chose whether to calculate metric tons in air using table 56 or using  density(vac) – 11 points

– set the precision for vcf, gsv, metric tons etc

– Apply VCF to totals only using the average cargo temperature

– Calculate the average temperature (for all tanks or for a grade) basis the total cargo volume, or basis the number of tanks

Aside from the above, the app contains a complete set of forms as  required by marine cargo surveyors:

– Customizable report settings, including company logo, standard email recipients, report titles etc

Report settings top part

Report settings (center part)

Report Settings bottom part

 – Transfer summary (for vessel) and executive transfer summary (for the client)

New entries have been added to the transfer summary:

– VEF for own ship in case of STS

– VEF for daughter vessel in case of STS

– Bill of Lading date in case of loading operation

In case of STS operations, a VEF corrected comparison is now also included with the executive summary.

All other reports remain as they were, but one more addition is the ability to export and import the following reports as csv (comma separated value) files:

– Ullage report

– Bunker report

– VEF report

– Time Sheet

These reports can be viewed or imported into Excel. Exported reports are copied into the phone’s documents folder, and during exporting, the user gets the option to email the exported file as well.

We’re going to publish several articles with more detail concerning the new features in CargoSurveyor in the coming days, so keep watching this space!

CargoSurveyor for iPhone can be downloaded here.

We should like to advise everyone who has downloaded the app in the past to update as soon as possible to ensure a flawless CargoSurveyor experience.