Hatch Cover Apparatus

The apparatus has a cover lid (402) to cover an opening formed by a body of a storage container. A sealing unit is activatable in a sealing condition to seal off the opening. An arrangement (408) retains the cover lid in a closed position, when a seal engages and seals the cover lid. The cover lid is slidable between an open position and the closed position to uncover and cover the opening by a unit in a non-sealing condition. An independent claim is also included for a method of operating an automatic hatch cover apparatus.