Bulk in bags

Nectar Group has provided an expert and bespoke service to the dry bulk handling market since its inception in 1972. The success of services provided by the group has been recognized with international awards and accolades through the years. Striving to be the best in the market has meant that the company is always looking at ways in which it can further add value to the already beneficial level of service provided to clients around the world.
As a result Nectar has developed a level of unrivalled flexibility and knowledge in operations covering 74 countries globally. The demand for bulk handling and bagging services of the group has changed significantly over the last decade. Whilst the company’s core business, providing mobile bagging facilities, was once solely operating within a select few countries in Africa, Nectar’s bagging units can now be seen in nearly every continent around the world. With a constantly changing bulk import and export market throughout the world, new locations generally bring with them new handling challenges and often new logistical difficulties to be resolved. Rather than trying to fit a round peg in a square hole Nectar Group has successfully made alterations to its existing range of equipment in order to meet the specific demand in newly developing geographical areas. For example South America generally differs from other continents in that bagging systems often incorporate valve bagging rather than filling standard open mouth bags. To conform to this, Nectar went back to the drawing board and designed a completely mobile bagging machine contained within a 10ft container that utilizes a screw feed conveyor to automatically fill valve bags with just two operators. This is a variation of Nectar’s 10ft Impac bagging machine. The single line ultra-mobile bagging unit, which comprises of the same advanced double weighing technology and electrical control systems as Nectar’s award winning Compac M140, was developed for operation with restricted space as it occupies a minimal footprint area but maintains a bagging speed of 60 tonnes per hour.
Various other locations have called for different design briefs including multiple line fixed bagging systems capable of up to 6,000 mts pwwd feeding straight from a silo or bagging bulk cargo in a port straight from containers into one-tonne bags. Ultimately, however, the principle remains the same whatever the method — fast, simple, bagging solutions anywhere, anytime. In its endeavours to fulfil its brief the company encounters many challenges. Despite features, such as the most advanced double weighing bunkers and electronic weighing control systems on the market, Nectar frequently encounters problems in relation to the other aspects of the handling process which in turn affect the overall cargo handling chain.
It is said that a chain can only ever be as strong as the weakest link which is very true with the cargo handling process. As such, deficiencies along the chains can often disappoint parties involved in the chain including final users of a commodity. Even today, labour-intensive manual bagging is in operation in many locations with unsatisfactory consequences for the end users or the receivers. This type of operation often leads to various issues such as unreliable bag weights, slow speed due to lack of labour and damaged or stained bags as a result of multiple handling processes. Nectar’s mechanization of this process has had a knock-on effect with pressure being put on trucking companies and storage providers to step up to the
plate and increase their performance. Not only is it a case of speed of handling and transport but it is also one of quality of product and reduction of loss. Although Nectar’s bagging systems operating in discharge ports have been proven to significantly reduce damage and loss from multiple handling and traditional manual bagging, there are still issues which need to be seriously considered in order to modernize the overall handling chain. Nectar often experiences cases where the onward handling of the product, following from where Nectar’s responsibility ends, proves to be detrimental to the overall quality of the accumulative services in the handling chain. Whether it be the tearing of bags by poor handling or the sub-standard storage before delivery, there needs to be a joint effort in the industry in smoothing out the process to ensure the end user receives the best possible quality product on time. After all, a healthy and efficient supply chain will promote a healthy demand for these products and thus, overall, lead to a healthy and profitable market.
Although the trend towards containerization continues in developing ports, the standardization of bulk handling operations lessens the risk to those knowledgeable enough to ship in bulk and bag at destination utilizing the advanced technology now on offer from Nectar. Besides, the financial rewards are becoming more and more prevalent.
Despite the different practices seen in various parts of the world, the company is involved in many Greenfield and general facility improvement projects displaying a general shift towards more standardized procedures being implemented in the developing world. In the last few years Nectar has developed a new role in the market from purely providing mobile bagging services to growing its consultancy and development arm to