Abstract: An apparatus for reducing procession of a gapless tubular printing blanket in an offset printing press caused by at least one fluid wave having a certain pressure trapped at an interface of the printing blanket and a blanket cylinder. The apparatus includes a blanket cylinder which is adapted to receive the printing blanket for mounting on its circumferential surface. The blanket cylinder has at least one path which connects an interface of the blanket cylinder and the printing blanket to a region of pressure lower than the pressure in the fluid wave. The path allows the fluid wave, which is trapped at the interface and advancing in front of a nip between the blanket cylinder and an adjacent cylinder, to escape to the region of low pressure.