Port of Vancouver event highlights new crude-oil tank cars, safety measures

Tesoro Corp., Savage and BNSF Railway Co. officials last week gave local business leaders an opportunity to observe enhanced safety features of Tesoro's new DOT-120 crude-oil tank cars at the Port of Vancouver, Wash.

The event focused on crude-by-rail safety in Washington state, the safe operations and handling of crude oil at Port Vancouver USA and the proposed Vancouver Energy crude-by-rail to marine loading terminal, and the DOT-120 rail cars' additional safety features, Tesoro officials said in a press release.

Tesoro and Savage are joint venture partners in the proposed Vancouver Energy terminal at the port.

The tank cars meet safety requirements of the new U.S. Department of Transportation standard, they said. The cars have a thicker tank shell, full-height head shields, a tank jacket and upgraded bottom outlet valve handle. Features that exceed the new standard include a thicker tank head than required; both thermal protection and a high-flow pressure relief valve; protective housing for the manway; and two times the rated tank test pressure.

Tesoro began working with Union Tank Car Co. in February 2014 to develop the safety-enhanced tank cars.

"Safely transporting, refining and using our resources as our country transitions to alternative fuel sources over the next several decades is a smart use of petroleum as we bridge to our energy future," said Nathan Savage, senior vice president and group leader of Savage's Oil & Gas Solutions Group, in a prepared statement.