If you’re a pressure vessel fabricator who relies on an outside furnace for PWHT, you’re probably already feeling the pressure of rising transportation costs — and it’s likely to get worse before it gets better, which is why on-site PWHT cost savings have never been more significant for fabricators.
Brent crude oil has surged nearly 50% since the start of 2026, driven by ongoing conflict in the Middle East and disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. That kind of price movement doesn’t stay contained to the gas pump. It flows directly into freight rates, heavy haul permitting costs, and the logistics expenses associated with moving large industrial equipment.
For pressure vessel fabricators, transporting a large vessel to an outside furnace for PWHT was never cheap. Oversized load permits, specialized transport equipment, rigging, blocking, and transit risk all add up — and every one of those costs is sensitive to fuel prices. When oil spikes, your PWHT bill goes up even if the heat treating rate itself hasn’t changed.
On-site PWHT eliminates that entire cost category. When Gulf Coast Combustion mobilizes to your facility, we bring the heat treating to the vessel — not the other way around. There’s no transport, no oversized load logistics, no rigging in and out. The vessel stays exactly where it is while we perform a fully code-compliant PWHT cycle with complete documentation.
In a stable fuel price environment, the cost comparison between on-site and furnace PWHT is already competitive for large vessels. In the current environment, with oil approaching $100 a barrel and freight costs climbing accordingly, on-site heat treating has a clear and growing cost advantage.
Beyond cost, on-site PWHT offers other advantages that don’t change regardless of fuel prices — no transit risk to your finished vessel, your QC team can witness the process directly, and turnaround is faster because you’re not waiting on a transport and furnace schedule.
Gulf Coast Combustion has performed more on-site pressure vessel heat treatments per year than any other mobile heat treating company in the United States. We’re based in Spring, TX and available to mobilize anywhere in the country. If rising transportation costs are making you rethink your PWHT approach, give us a call at 713-425-3773, ext. 1.
