We have all seen news articles of a boat which has caught fire at a marina, or at a marina’s fuel dock.  These are dramatic scenes that are almost always preventable.  We take safe refuelling very seriously, as we want to ensure your safety, our safety, the safety of the environment, and the safety of our dock!

Always feel free to ask one of our marine fuelling experts for any safety advice when you are at our dock.  Here is a guide for safe refuelling which applies to both gasoline and diesel vessels.  Also, be sure to adhere to directions given to you by dock staff.

• Moor boat securely to the dock
• Shut down engines, generators
• Shut down heaters/furnaces
• Shut down electrical system(s)
• All persons not involved in refuelling the vessel must come ashore
• No smoking
• Close all doors, windows, ports, and hatches
• Portable tanks ashore for refuelling
• Ground fuel nozzle against fill pipe
• Do not overfill the tank – know your tank’s capacity and know your ullage
• Keep a rag at hand to catch, cleanup spillage
• Once refuelling is complete, open engine hatch and sniff for fumes.  Run blower(s) for four minutes
• Restart engine BEFORE  guests reboard the craft

Cleaning up a spill

Should you spill fuel as a result of the fuelling process, utilize water discriminating absorbant pads.  DO NOT dump detergent on the spill.  This simply spreads the fuel out – it does transform it, nor does it clean it!  It is wise to ask the fuel attendant where the nearest spill kit is in case of spill.  False Creek Fuels keeps containment boom, absorbant boom, and absorbant pads on hand to contain and clean up any spills.