Some of the biggest losses covered by the industries all over the globe are from the ship transport industry. The industry is one of the biggest loss payers all over the globe and the amounts it pays in accumulation can be counted in billions. The lost amount is too huge to be ignored and the reason behind the loss is mishandling of the cargo, skipping deadlines and these two have a minor share on the pie chart but the biggest slice of the pie is due to the leaking hatch covers. The ships which are being run without the Hatch cover maintenance and watertight integrity testing are the biggest cause of the loss generation and damaging the goods inside the cargo holds.

Due to the pressing deadlines and the shortage of transport ships, the available ships are under huge pressure and in great demand which does not leave them with enough time to complete the testing. Since a majority of the ship owners are adamant to use the world’s oldest method to test holes and leaks, the water hose testing method, it requires the ship to be completely free from cargo and some good days time to complete the test. The ships do not have enough time to spend on the tests because if the ships are sent for the tests, a deadline would be missed for sure and in either case, the ship’s management would be liable to pay the fines.

The leaks in the ship’s body not only affect and damage the cargo in the holds, the damage starts expanding from the cargo holds to the other parts of the ship as well. Once a ship’s body part catches rust, there is no stopping it from expanding and taking the other parts within its grip. Other than the ships hatch covers, the compartment doors are the second most vulnerable part of a ship. Since the doors are constantly being used, they are the fastest to catch rust apart from the hatch covers. The doors of the compartments are meant to be watertight so that there is no transfer of water among the compartments in case some compartment gets filled with water.

Checking the water tightness of the doors through the watertight compartment doors testing ensures that the doors are always water tight when shut. In case the ships compartment gets filled with water or develops a leak, there is no chance that the water would manage to travel to the other compartments hence the ship would never lose its stability and would remain upright even in the worst conditions. Many ships turn turtle or lie on one side because of the leaking doors and the water traveling from one compartment to all the adjoining compartments.