The Central government on Wednesday granted permission to Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) to introduce ISO tank containers for movement of liquid oxygen for domestic transport in wake of COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry in a release said that amid COVID-19 pandemic, an urgent need was felt to move oxygen in sufficient quantity, at a short notice, from surplus areas to deficit areas and hence it was felt necessary to give permission to ISO containers to move liquid oxygen for domestic transport. “Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has given permission to the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) to introduce ISO tank containers for movement of Liquid Oxygen for domestic transport. Amid COVID-19 pandemic, the movement of oxygen within the country through the ISO containers shall greatly enhance the translocation of safe and fast movement of oxygen through the road network,” the Ministry said. The proposal to introduce ISO tank containers for the domestic movement was initiated by DPIIT after a consultation meeting with cryogenic oxygen manufacturers. A stakeholder consultation was also carried out. “This permission has been given for one year initially to expeditiously deal with the emergent situation,” it said. In this context, the PESO has devised the module for receipt of online applications from the stakeholders to expeditiously grant the permissions for ISO tank containers for oxygen. ISO tank is a tank container built to the ISO standard (International Organisation for Standardisation). ISO tanks are designed to carry liquids in bulk. The tank is made of stainless steel and is surrounded by various types of protective layers. “ISO tanker can carry 20 MT of liquid oxygen. Since they can carry huge amount of Oxygen at one go, ISO containers will help to translocate sufficient oxygen to areas where required,” the Ministry said.
