NATO technicians inspect the MM infrastructure in Sicily

28/03/14

In recent days, a team of NATO technical personnel carried out an inspection of the alliance's infrastructure in Sicily.

The international technical staff - belonging to the command: Joint Force Command of Naples, Maritime Command of London, USA Naval Forces Europe-Africa / US Sixth FLeet of Naples Capodichino and USA Defense Logistics Agency Kaiserslautern in Germany - was accompanied by the staff of the naval staff and of the autonomous maritime military command of Sicily.

The reason for the inspection is the periodic inspection of the infrastructures built or modernized with NATO mutual funds, to check the status of the works in progress and to maintain them in accordance with NATO standards.

The visit inside a fuel tank at the POL NATO depot in San Cusumano (Augusta) was of particular interest and is currently the subject of considerable modernization work financed by NATO which, among other things, provides for the coating of the internal surface with a system Italian patent metal "Ferrari".

This type of processing consists in applying appropriately shaped metal sheets along the walls, conveniently welded together so as to create ducts along the vertical ridge to harness any fuel leaks.

The "Ferrari" patent was developed by a private company from La Spezia, a leader in the sector, and was used for the modernization of similar international facilities. It is considered a state-of-the-art coating method in the field of restructuring techniques for this type of tank and can be included among the excellences of our Country System.

The fuel tanks of San Cusumano serve, through 2 pipeline systems, both the Augusta NATO jetty and the Sigonella air base and are considered of fundamental importance for the strategic position at the center of the Mediterranean.

Source: Military Navy