Barranquilla Regional Port Company in Colombia recently introduced a new system for the discharge of dry bulk, costing
approximately $8 million. This forms part of an investment plan for the port, which began in 2008. The operator claims that this makes the port by far the fastest in the country.
The system is centred around four discharge pits. Numbers six and seven can respectively accommodate 12,000 tonnes and
34,000 tonnes, while 6A can hold 24,000 tonnes and 7A 12,000 tonnes. Construction of these areas began in 2009 and ended earlier this year.
Up to 2009, Barranquilla had storage capacity for up to 78,000 tonnes of dry bulk, which has increased to 238,500 tonnes now that the new systems in place. Productivity has also increased from 5,362 tonnes per day to 9,000 tonnes per day. BC