GLOBAL MATERIALS SERVICES DE VENEZUELA (GMSV)
Now in its 10th year of operation, the GMSV floating offloading terminal continues to provide reliable bauxite unloading service.
The GMSV floating terminal is located near a bauxite processing facility along the Orinoco river in Venezuela. This floating terminal was developed to greatly improve the bauxite unloading activities at the existing port in this important region of Venezuela. The previous system of bauxite unloading had several limitations, such as the poor serviceability and availability of the existing unloading equipment and interference of barge unloading with ship loading as the existing dock was used by ships as well as barges. This floating barge unloading terminal is built around two E-Crane® ‘equilibrium cranes’ mounted on an oceangoing barge. The two E-Cranes unload all the bauxite for the nearby alumina producer (CVG Bauxilum) which is transported by barges from its mine 650km downriver in El Jobal,Venezuela.
Equipped with two E-Cranes respectively having 15 and 25 tonnes’ lift capacity, this installation has a proven bauxite unloading capacity of close to six million tonnes in an eight-month time window (navigation season). The terminal has been successfully in operation since 2002 and is proof of E-Crane’s excellent reliability and ease of operation in an extremely tough environment.
According to the General Barge Foreman for Global Material Services de Venezuela, Luis Mok, “The E-Cranes continue to
provide excellent reliability. Stoppage time attributed to the E-Cranes amounts to less than 1% of the crane run hours, which is remarkable.” Mok is highly impressed with the E-Cranes’ performance, reliability and technical support from E-Crane International USA.
 
SHERWIN ALUMINA – GREGORY,TX
The Sherwin Alumina bauxite unloading port is the new home for two 2000 Series E-Cranes. The model 18450 GA-E cranes were installed in the summer of 2010 and work 24/7/365 unloading bauxite ore from Handymax and Panamax vessels.
The bauxite comes in two variations — both of which are named after the mining
location — Trombetas (Brazil) and Jamaican. The Trombetas ore comes in rock-like pieces similar to crushed limestone. The Jamaican ore is the lighter of the two, but is also more difficult to handle due to its sticky and dusty nature.
The E-Cranes, which replaced two rail-based continuous ship unloaders, have provided the port with a new level of production and reliability. The simplicity of the E-Crane balanced design concept compared with the previous machines allows for ‘pit-stop’-like preventative maintenance and maximum uptime.
The hydraulic controlled E-Crane gives the operator full precision control over the clamshell grab. The parallelogram type E-Crane boom grants the machine access underneath the hatch coamings of the vessel — something that conventional cable cranes cannot match.
With a state-of-the-art control system, the E-Crane operator easily and confidently guides the full clamshell grab into the port side hopper holding dust to a minimum.
Nearly 4mt (million tonnes) of bauxite has been unloaded in the first year alone with another 5+mt scheduled for year two.