HCCR’s Tank Cleaning Service is one of the most advanced plants of its type. HCCR staff clean up to 40 tank containers and tank trucks there every day. The team specializes in cleaning chemically polluted tanks.  

Karsten Röhl abandoned his job at a chemical company over 21 years ago. “They wanted to trap me in an office with a collar and tie. That was not what I wanted,” recalls Röhl, who preferred to take a job in HCCR Hamburger Container- and Chassis-Reparatur-Gesellschaft’s workshop. He has retained a fascination for chemical compounds and for six years now has headed HCCR’s Tank Cleaning Service.  

Working in two shifts, the HHLA subsidiary cleans up to 40 tanks daily. The eleven-strong team specializes in cleaning chemically polluted tank containers and tank trucks. “Chemical reactions to oil additives, especially, are a tough job," recognizes Karsten Röhl as designated person for hazardous goods. Slightly soiled tanks are clean again within 15 minutes as a rule. With intractable substances, cleaning can take up to one hour. In that case, the container is squirted at high pressure or hosed down with water at up to 180° C. And if nothing works any longer, the interior of the container is scrubbed out. “But there I can rely totally and absolutely on my team. What the lads do here is absolutely first class,” Karsten Röhl is convinced of that.  

Over 90 percent of all tank containers need to be cleaned after every run. At HCCR’s Tank Cleaning Service the dirty water used for washing is channelled through an on-site treatment plant in which water and dirt are re-separated. Moreover, chemical reactions during the cleaning process can release gases harmful for health and the environment. These substances do not reach the atmosphere, but are sucked into an exhaust air unit. Thanks to a filtration system unique in Europe, clear air results “that is at least as clean as it was before,” says Röhl.   HCCR’s cleaners have a responsible job. Any deposits that remain in a container after superficial cleaning could pollute entire consignments, causing unnecessary costs. During cleaning, moreover, some fundamental chemical rules have to be observed. “If a tank is to be cleansed of sulphuric acid, for example, this must in no circumstances be done with alkali solutions. In that case, the whole washing unit would go up in the air,” warns Karsten Röhl.  

To boost safety at the plant, Röhl (46) organizes regular rescue drills, with the Hamburg Fire Brigade, among others, or surprises his team with a rehearsal for an emergency. The latter involves rescue within three minutes of a dummy lying inert in the tank having inhaled gases. The drill is rehearsed until it really works: “Only routine gives the helper the essential confidence in an emergency.”