Building custom made hose reels is something we do every day, and every project is unique. Usually the application and the story behind the build makes for interesting reading – and this particular project sees our reels adorning a landmark marine facility in Sydney Harbour, providing fuel to everyone from weekend fishermen to commercial ferries.

ReCoila was approached by Bailey’s Marine Fuels to build a series of hose reels for a new world-class marine supply facility in White Bay, near Balmain. Here’s a rundown of this unique project and how we were able to help.

Baileys Marine Fuels Australia is a specialist marine fuel distributor, infrastructure developer, and marine service provider. Bailey’s undertook a comprehensive consulting process in the planning of White Bay 6 by engaging industry, government, user groups, industry associations and stakeholders in order to develop a facility that caters for the needs of a wide range of harbour users. The White Bay 6 project is unique in that it provides a range of services in one location which are available to all harbour users – from ferries, police vessels, tug boats and recreational sailors. The facility provides bulk diesel and unleaded fuelling, lubricants, lay down and pump out facilities, all with 24 hour access.

The project is a culmination of five years of planning, environmental impact research and construction and will operate to the highest environmental standards.

The facility was designed and built to AS1940 standard, therefore the storage and dispensing of fuel had to be strictly controlled, managed and audited to comply with established environmental standards and safety measures. White Bay 6 also operates under Bailey’s long-standing ISO14001 Environmental Management Certification. This meant that we as a supplier had to ensure our reels also operated at the highest standard, with a wide range of factors taken into account.

Being in a dockside location, corrosion was always going to be a major issue. We countered this by constructing the hose reels from marine grade 316 stainless steel to ensure longevity and strength and reduce the risk of corrosion.

The facility was to be built in one of the world’s busiest working harbours and despite it being set on a two hectare site, traffic management was certainly a factor for consideration. Vessels needed to refuel or pump out fast, so the hose reels must be able to handle high flow rates, with large diameter hose and hassle free operation imperative in achieving a fast turnaround time.

ReCoila's technical team designed and built five RF Series commercial fuel dispensing reels, 3 with flow rates of 200 litres per minute, to suit 20m of 50mm (2 inch) fuel hose. The remaining two suited 25m of 75mm(3 inch) fuel hose with flow rates of 900 litres per minute.

Also installed at the site are two heavy duty C Series reels, customised for sullage pump-out. We’ve worked with Bailey’s in the past on a number of their purpose-built fuelling facilities and we’re soon to embark on another project for a similarly kitted-out facility on the other side of Australia.

This hose reel project was nominated as a finalist in the 2012 Mercury Awards for Materials Handling Solutions.