The fate of the huge Titanic clearly tells us that even the biggest ship is sinkable. While it really ended up crashing in an iceberg which led to its doomed fate, today’s ships are better equipped to detect such pieces floating on the sea. But the centuries old problem still prevails which is causing a ship to sink by the water filling in through the hatch covers. When water enters the insides of the ship, it is a sure fact that the goods inside the cargo holds will be damaged. Water damages the cartons of the goods in which they are packed and while the water easily wets the cardboard boxes, the goods inside them start getting wet and lose their worth.

For every transport ship that is to sail on the water, it is important to have the hatch cover maintenance and watertight integrity testing completed. The test will reveal all the areas of weaknesses and the spots where water could easily enter the cargo holds. The test is easily conducted using the ultrasonic hatch cover tester. It is a handy device which is completely portable hence it can be taken anywhere on the ship. By keeping the ultrasonic waves generator inside the cargo hold and closing the hatch covers, the receiver in the hand of the person conducting the test will reveal the holes and cracks on the body.

When the areas of damage have been found, they can be marked and the repair team would then be called to fill in the holes. The time spent on the testing isn’t too long and it actually depends on the size of the ship. If the ship is a medium size, the time needed for a complete checkup would be no more than a couple of hours. However on the ships that are mammoth sized, the time needed can be up to a day or even more. The time needed to complete the repairs depends on the nature of the defects. If there arises the need to dismantle, the time for the repairs would be surely more than a day.

Apart from just checking the integrity of the cargo holds, the ship owners should never ignore the cable transit areas watertight testing as well. If water manages to get inside the cables, it can cause an electric short circuit and the damage would be devastating. The entire cable network can be destroyed or it may cause a spark that would result in the entire ship to go up in flames. Hence the electric wiring needs to be well maintained too and any kind of loss should be prevented.