Why is the marine engine room susceptible to flooding?
We all know that a ship floats on water, totally surrounded by the sea on all sides. The entire engine room, especially the bottom the bottom most platform, will usually be under the surface of the water. In case of a ULCC or VLCC ship, the bottom platform is almost 10 to 15 metres below the water line. We all are aware of the complex piping systems and the hazardous and risky conditions inside the engine room. And out of all pipelines, the main sea water line covers almost all parts of the engine room. This pipe is a huge diameter pipe running forward and aft of the ship. In addition to this, the engine room is totally restricted from open atmosphere, such that no water can go out except the normally designed piping system. It is not possible to throw/pump out anything from engine room as it may violate the MARPOL rules & regulations.Thus engine room is often susceptible to flooding, which may even hamper the safety of the ship.
