American Bureau of Shipping Certification of Hoses Lands PIRTEK New Business


PIRTEK Lake Wright, in Virginia Beach, VA recently won a substantial job assisting a local dredging company with replacing hoses on a scow.

This scow is a hopper style barge which holds 4,000 cubic yards of dredge material. Once it's filled, it is then moved by remote control to a specific area for dumping.

PIRTEK Owner and General Manager, David Driskill, and his team received a call on a Friday afternoon from a customer who was in need of ten 5,000 psi, 2 inch diameter hose assemblies with special block flanges. The hoses go to a 10" bore cylinder which opens and closes the hoppers on the barge. The key to receiving the job was that the hoses must be American Bureau of Shipping Certified and the job needed to be completed in just two days.

Fortunately, just a few weeks prior to this call, PIRTEK Pirform hoses attained the accredited ABS Certification. This certification is in addition to the prestigious United States Coast Guard (USCG) approval, Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) approval as well as conforming to other SAE standards for all PIRTEK products. The extensive testing processes for the different certifications require salt water corrosion and immersion tests, pressure and abrasion tests as well as flame and heat resistance tests. The customer requested the approval because the USCG and the American Bureau of Shipping inspect vessels to insure that they use only approved hoses

The team at PIRTEK Lake Wright quickly reacted to the customer's call for help. They contacted other PIRTEK Centers and the PIRTEK Service Center Headquarters in Rockledge, FL for some of the specialty parts needed to complete the job. The parts were delivered over night to the PIRTEK Service Center in Virginia Beach. A team of three Mobile Sales and Service Technicians were able to complete and test the hose assemblies over the weekend allowing the customer to get the dredge out of port and on its way to a job.

"Being able to support the marine industry with a fleet of mobile service units capable of fabricating and testing hoses on site has been a key ingredient in winning business from shipyards and defense contractors in the area," says Driskill. "Safety and quality are essential when working with major marine contractors," adds Driskill. "We often need to supply copies of insurance, test certificates and letters of conformity to the customer just to become a qualified vendor."

Rockledge, Florida-based PIRTEK is the world's leading service provider of ETA 1 Hour On-Site Hose Replacement. PIRTEK offers a 24 hour, 7 day service that serves almost every facet of industry including construction, manufacturing, transportation, agriculture and engineering among others. When an equipment breakdown occurs, it often results in costly delays in time and labor before the proper replacement hose is located and installed but PIRTEK vans carry the component parts necessary to manufacture hose assemblies on site. Hose and fittings can also be purchased over-the-counter at PIRTEK's national network of service centers that serve as home bases to its mobile fleet. There are nearly 40 PIRTEK service centers nationwide and over 170 PIRTEK mobile service vans serving major metropolitan markets throughout.

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