With over 50 years of experience and an international reputation in this competitive field, Aurecon knows a thing or two about designing shiploaders.
Aurecon has been designing shiploaders for Australian and international applications since 1959. Building on traditional expertise in bulk material handling and port engineering, the company has earned an international reputation as a major presence in this market.
This standing in the field has evolved, in particular, over the design of a significant number of long travelling, luffing, A-frame- type shiploaders in operation in coal ports on the east coast of Australia. Here, in many cases, the company has also managed the procurement and construction of these machines.
While recognition is primarily for the A-frame type machine, additional designs include, among others, radial shiploaders, fixed location luffing and slewing shiploaders. Designs cover machines to export a wide range of bulk materials, including coal, mineral ores, cement, sugar, grain and woodchip.
Using its experience in the field, Aurecon is able to tailor each machine to the application and the clients’ requirements. The most recent machine commissioned is the Abbot Point
Shiploader 2 (SL2), delivered as part of the award winning X50 Expansion Project completed in 2011 in joint venture with HATCH. Abbot Point is the most northerly deepwater coal
port of Australia, situated 25km north of Bowen, Queensland. The machine is a development of Aurecon’s A-frame family of designs. The company developed the first of these designs in 1977 for the Mauritius Bulk Sugar Terminal.
The Abbot Point SL2 loads ships up to very large Cape-class at a rate of 7,200tph (tonnes per hour). The machine weighs approximately 1,400 tonnes and represents state-of-the-art design of large capacity shiploaders. The completion of wind tunnel testing of a scale model enabled design optimization beyond traditional calculated estimates of wind forces.
John Holland Group fabricated and erected the machine in Brisbane. A specialist heavy lift vessel, the Happy Buccaneer, transported it to Abbot Point. Transportation proved to be challenging; requiring a luffing down of the boom for transit under the Gateway bridges and then raising and securing it for the sea voyage while the Happy Buccaneer was under way.
There are currently two machines in the construction phase; the Hay Point Coal Terminal (HPCT) Shiploader 3; and the Wiggins Island Coal Terminal (WICT) Shiploader 1. Aurecon Hatch JV project delivery teams have designed both.
The HPCT shiploader 3 is a development of the Abbot Point machine, with a higher 8,000tph loading rate.
A trend in shiploader procurement is overseas fabrication, erection and initial dry commissioning of a machine, followed by transport to site via a specialist heavy lift vessel. The HPCT machine will follow this trend. This approach has enabled a substantial capital saving, and represents the likely procurement strategy for most shiploaders supplied to Australian ports in the future.
This strategy creates new challenges in design and quality control, such as designing with steel sections that are readily available overseas and ensuring fabrication meets Australian Standards.
The WICT Shiploader 1 machine will operate within a semi- protected harbour. It is a new design that uses the efficient A-frame configuration, but targets cost savings in the supporting marine structure by further minimizing the weight of the machine, and reducing the machine rail gauge from 18m to 16m. The WICT machine achieves a weight saving of approximately 300 tonnes over the Abbot Point machine, while achieving a higher 8,500tph loading rate. A second, higher-capacity WICT shiploader is also currently in the design phase.
The Aurecon A-frame design includes shuttling and telescoping chutes with loading spoons to provide complete hatch coverage with simple linear movements. This feature is especially important for low density bulk products such as coal, where controlled placement of product in the ships hold is important.
The A-frame design permits narrow gauge machine rails which minimizes the cost of the marine structure. This means that the design is particularly suited to single-sided offshore deepwater berths, such as those found at the Abbot Point, Hay Point, Dalrymple Bay and Wiggins Island coal terminals.
The shiploader type selected for a port is highly dependent on the product handled, and the orientation and location of the wharf. For example, in ore handling where marine conditions suit dual-sided wharves and placement of the denser bulk product does not require the use of a telescopic chute and loading spoon it is common to employ long travelling, slewing type shiploaders. Bridge type shiploaders, which require large rail centres, are particularly suited to land backed wharves such as at NCIG’s recently commissioned Newcastle coal terminal. It is essential to consider shiploader type selection in conjunction with the design and arrangement of the marine structure.
A future direction for shiploaders is an increase in the level of automation of the machines. In modern bulk material stockyards it is standard to automate yard machines such as stackers and reclaimers. However, the automation of shiploaders offers unique challenges to overcome.
The challenges mainly arise due to the variability in the shiploading operation, including; O variability in ship designs; O identification of potential collision sources such as hatch edges, ships derricks and bridge structure; and O vessel movement due to wave action and tides.
Other challenges include ensuring completion of loading in accordance with the ship captain’s instructions to maintain trim and ensuring systems remain reliable in adverse weather conditions.
Shiploader design will continue to be a challenging field of engineering. Each port development offers unique conditions. Some require high throughput such as the Australian east coast coal ports, calling for high rate, high utilization machines. Others have relatively low throughput, calling for an efficient, cost effective design.
ABOUT AURECONAurecon provides engineering, management and specialist technical services for public and private sector clients globally. The group, with an office network extending across 23 countries, has been involved in projects in over 80 countries across Africa, Asia Pacific and the Middle East and employs around 7 000 people throughout 11 industry groups: Resources; transport; government; property; construction; water; energy; manufacturing; data & telecommunications; defence; international development assistance.
CST consolidates its shiploading position
Control Systems Technology Pty Ltd, an Australian company operating worldwide with experienced partners in major economies, has built on its experience in shiploading scales to launch a new constellation of its existing technology as the purpose specific ‘Cargo Superintendent Scale’. CST has been building belt scales specifically designed for shiploading for over 28 years and its equipment is already used at significant shiploading terminals worldwide. Australian export coal is loaded onto ships over CST scales at Abbot Point, Dalrymple Bay and Hay Point Coal Terminals in Queensland. Also NCIG, Port Waratah Coal Terminal – Kooragang Island and Carrington sites and the Port Kembla Coal Terminal in Wollongong NSW. In iron ore, CST has a presence at BHP Billiton’s Port Hedland and Finucane Island facilities, as well as with Rio Tinto’s Parker Point, East Intercourse Island and Cape Lambert facilities and now with FMG. The majority, if not all, of Australia’s iron ore has been loaded onto ships over CST belt scales for more than ten years.
In Vancouver, Canada, CST equipment is used at Westshore and Neptune Terminals for coal loading; at Pacific Coals Terminals, it is used for loading sulphur to ships. In Vancouver too there is CST’s world first trade certified 0.1% scale for shiploading where gold-copper ore is loaded over a 0.1% scale which has been in service for over five years. In this case, ships survey is no longer used as the basis of sale of the cargo; ships survey simply is not accurate enough. CST has also received a vote of confidence through its Canadian agent,TD Micronic
Inc by being selected as the only equipment with the necessary accuracy and reliability to replace draught surveys at major ports in Canada and the USA. .
While world trade has depended upon ships survey for hundreds of years, it is losing ground to CST shiploading scales. This is especially true when cargoes
are sold by the hold. Ships survey may be able to be maintained within +0.5%/–0.5% for a whole ship, but for a ‘one hold at a time’ transaction it is clearly inadequate.
CST has developed a suite of technologies based on its broad
experience. Each technology is focused on meeting the customer’s need for 100% availability and bullet proof reliability. CST has made improvements to all of the belt scales components, each one aimed at reducing the already minimal maintenance required by its well-established stable systems. The improvements have been made in five technology areas:
1. Better management of zero adjustment is made via CST’s international patent pending Belt Image Zero
Tracking (BIZT) system. The BIZT system is based on a technology which records an image of the
weight of the conveyor belt over its entire length. The system allows the correct zero weight of the belt to be played back to the weight processor in
sequence with the conveyor belt thus eliminating the normal weight/flow variation seen on a belt scale
at zero flow. For a previous generation scale, the weight information for a correctly zeroed belt is
actually only precise once each complete belt revolution. With the advent of the BIZT system, it is
now much easier to discern whether a conveyor belt is actually empty before making a zero adjustment and an
adjustment can be made in a very short period of time, much less than one revolution of a long belt. As a result, belt zero monitoring and adjustment can fit into the natural short breaks in the normal shiploading process and does not require special downtime.
2. CST’s international patent-pending Close Spaced Roller Rack (CSRR) smooths the ride for the cargo as it moves through the scale area. Normally, as cargo moves along on a belt, it is jostled up and down and may even become airborne at every idler set along the conveyor. The CSRR provides extra carry roll support while still providing independence of the weigh frame so that the problems of normal conveying and weighing are all but eliminated. Dynamic effects which come from the unhelpful up-down movement of the material on the belt and that of airborne material introduce the possibility of material slip on the belt, affecting both tachometer and weighing accuracy. These are brought under control creating a secure system with repeatable results even though different cargoes are loaded at different flow rates.
3. Built-in Calibration Mass, whilst not an innovation in itself, when combined with the BIZT system and an intelligent control system, it means zero and calibration checks may be made in a fraction of a belt revolution in natural breaks during shiploading. Many people believe that belt scales are inherently unreliable and need continual calibration. CST has established that scales with well designed weigh frames which have an adequate ‘signal to noise ratio’ for weighing in the belt tension environment existing on the conveyor belt are stable and are unlikely to need adjustment even after 12 months of service. Therefore, be assured, the ‘Stored In Place’ (SIP) calibration masses are not required for the continual adjustment of the calibration of the system, but rather to maintain confidence in the system. The SIP masses are a reference mass traceable to national standards and ensure the security of the system. The checking process is required by many trade measurement authorities to ensure that a certified system remains in good condition between certifications. The SIP masses are not in themselves a legally recognized reference for trade certification; a series of pre- or post-weighed slugs of live cargo is required for certification, however, and the SIP masses are a recognized method of ensuring that a system has remained stable. The beauty of the SIP system is that regular downtime for reference checks is not required, as the object is achieved during the normal use of the system.
4. CST’s patented dual redundant embedded tachometer is the most reliable tachometer system ever to be offered for conveyor scales.The tachometer system has the role of accurately measuring the movement of the belt and hence the cargo across the weighing area. Any error in the tachometer system is reflected directly in the output of the system CST’s embedded tachometer is incorporated directly into the weigh frame measuring the belt movement right at the weigh scale where it matters. Since it is ‘dual redundant’, the system can isolate a faulty tachometer and continue to operate on the good one. The system also includes a continuous automatic calibration process which continually checks and adjusts tachometry to keep the tachometer correct under all temperature, moisture, wear or even build- up situations. The benefit to the end user is that there is no routine maintenance; just a 12 monthly check.
5. The final piece of the system is remote monitoring via the internet where all of the scales subsystems can be monitored in real time, minor faults checked for and, if necessary, remedial action taken. The CSS system’s internationally trade certified ‘Superintendent’ electronics system continually logs system performance. The log will keep maximum and minimum flow rates as well as the growth of the total as the ship is loaded. Also, there is a log of all zero and calibrations check events and all tachometer tracking events and adjustments. Any fault event is logged with time and date for each event providing unparalleled insight into system events and performance. CST’s remote monitoring via a secure VPN connection provides a level of care and supervision by CST’s own specialists not normally available on site whether local or overseas.
CST has a wealth of experience in all aspects of belt scales whether it be the application engineering, design, building to rugged marine standards, installation supervision, commissioning or ongoing care of mission-critical cargo scale systems.
Control Systems Technology Pty Ltd distributes its scale systems through partners worldwide. Of particular note is its Canadian agent TD Micronic, where CEO Lorne Danielson has been involved in the development and deployment of CST shiploading scale systems in coal, sulphur, copper-gold concentrate and potash. In the USA, CST is very pleased to be associated with Merrick Industries which already has a conveyor scale manufacturing and maintenance presence throughout the Americas. Merrick has long been a major player in this industry and provides additional strength to CST’s existing strength in world markets.
VIGAN stays on top of dust control issues in dry bulk shiploading
VIGAN Engineering S.A. is a Belgian company located in Nivelles industrial area of the country, about 30km south of Brussels, at the heart of the European Union. It specializes in the design and manufacture of port equipment for dry bulk handling. The company offers a range of bulk handling equipment, and has significant expertise in shiploaders and shiploading technology.
Historically VIGAN started manufacturing portable grain pumps to convey cargo, for instance from ship to trucks/quay conveyors and vice versa, to load and/or unload silos or flat warehouses, etc .The company extended its range of equipment with continuous ship unloaders (CSUs) on gantry (pneumatic and mechanical), and mechanical shiploaders.
Designed for almost any kind of products in bulk with a density from 0.2 to 1.8tm/3,VIGAN loaders are suitable for all size of barges or vessels, and can reach a capacity of up to 1,200tph (metric tonnes per hour).
The loading is done mechanically: cargo can be, for instance, transported into the loading boom by integrated belt (eventually with a travelling movement) or chain conveyor and discharged by gravity into the ship’s hold, thanks to a telescopic loading chute.
The loading boom (up to 26m) is usually mounted on a slewing ring.
The combination of telescopic and rotating movements allows continuous and uniform loading operations of the ship holds.
CUSTOMIZED MODELSThe whole loading structure can be mounted on a self-propelled gantry on rails usually with cable reels; on a self-propelled gantry on rubber wheels, with diesel generator or cable reels; or on a fixed structure.
DUST CONTROLIn most ports, controlling dust emissions is not only a major concern but also a main objective.
VIGAN loaders fulfill these requirements thanks to: O a fully retractable cover of the telescopic belt conveyor
boom; O automatic self-cleaning filters mounted on the top of the
integrated belt conveyors; and O the dust-free loading head and/or a dust suction equipment
which can be installed at the telescopic loading spout.
A 600tph VIGAN shiploader in use by the BUNGE Group in Poland.
SPECIAL FEATURESThese are available as options, and include a slewable loading powered thrower that makes it possible to direct the bulk cargo flow sideways in any direction; or a jet slinger which can be mounted at the bottom of the telescopic loading pipe, allowing also a quite uniform spreading of the cargoes in the holds.
RECENT SALESAmong the most recent loading equipment sold:
- in 2007: VIGAN supplied a 350tph shiploader unit toAK Biday Aktau Port on the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan. This shiploading installation helped AK Biday to export an annual 600,000 to 700,000 tonnes during the nine-month harvest, loading a monthly average of 75,000 tonnes in 5,000dwt to 6,000dwt vessels.
- in 2010: in Poland, one 600tph loader was sold to BUNGE Group, a leading agribusiness and food company.
- in 2011: the Port of Se`te (in France), where grain exporting activities are continuously growing, extended its berth. It acquired from VIGAN one 400tph pneumatic barge unloader and one 800tph mechanical shiploader;in 2012: one shiploader for vessels up to 60,000dwt with a capacity of up to 1,000tph is currently being installed in the Port of Liepaja on the Baltic Sea.
Telescoping conveyors and truck unloaders greatly increase logistics efficiencies
Maritime transport is playing an ever-increasing role in the cost- effective delivery of aggregate and mineral ores. From port to port, the economic advantages of shipping by inland barges or ocean freighters increase as the tonnage and distance of transport increases. Consider that at any one time, one of the largest US aggregate producers has nearly a quarter-million tonnes of material on barges heading down the Mississippi River, for example. Commonly holding 1,500 tonnes of aggregate, barges can be grouped into tows of 30 to 40 barges depending upon the width and depth of the waterway. And, ocean freighters average tonnages between 60,000 to 120,000 tonnes, which equals the volume carried by 3,000 to 6,000 twenty-tonne dump trucks. Consequently, more and more producers are cashing in on the advantages of waterborne shipment — and more and more customers’ trucks are being loaded at port facilities with materials produced hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
But importantly, the true cost-efficiencies of maritime transport can only be achieved by looking at the total picture. Certainly, if an operation is elevating its costs by loading and unloading vessels with outmoded, unwieldy or labour-intensive methods; or stockpiling with loaders and haul trucks — arguably,
what is gained from a maritime transport strategy is bit by bit being given away. “To capitalize on the competitive advantages of waterborne transport, one’s material handling, stockpiling, and loading/unloading systems at each port facility must be equally as efficient,” says Bob Domnick, vice-president of engineering for Superior Industries, a Minnesota, USA-based manufacturer of conveyor systems and components. Among its offerings, the company designs customized loading and unloading systems that include automated telescoping radial stacking conveyors combined with a number of transfer point mobility options, truck unloaders, tripper systems and more.
Domnick cites several examples of the use of this equipment at port facilities. A Quebec, Canada-based shipper is operating three Superior Industries TeleStacker® conveyors. The portability of the equipment allows the company to serve more ports while reducing capital costs by avoiding the need to buy fixed equipment for all of its ports. Also, the TeleStacker conveyor creates larger volume stockpiles in a variety of configurations, which maximizes stockpiling capabilities in ports where space is restricted.
An Oregon, USA-based producer has a 150ft TeleStacker Conveyor mounted on a dock structure located 360ft out into the river where there is adequate water depth. This loading operation provides an ability to raise and lower the conveyor to adjust to the different heights of the river throughout the year, while also adjusting the discharge height as the weight of the load causes the barge to lower in the water.
Lastly, Domnick explains that when road-portable telescoping radial stacking conveyors are used in combination with portable truck unloading systems, port facilities can realize even greater cost-per-tonne savings via improved cycle times, minimized loader use, reduced labour requirements, and ensured product quality control by removing any extra handling of material. The next detailed example illustrates his point.
Agencia Aduanal Vejar is a cargo handling logistics solutions company in air, rail and maritime transport. Currently it operates out of two Mexican ports — one at Guaymus, Sonora; and the other in Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan, Mexico. The company ships iron ore, copper concentrate, petroleum coke (petcoke), and other bulk materials via barge and ocean freighters.
It operates three 170ft TeleStacker conveyors and four Superior Industries RazerTail® truck unloaders. Offering 90- second truck cycle times, these portable truck unloaders, can quickly transfer material onto a conveyor or onto another truck, thus reducing or eliminating the use of loaders. The units require a minimal 22- to 32-inch earthen ramp that takes minutes to build.
Owner Gabriel Vejar says that prior to operating the new equipment; it would take up to four days to load 10,000 tonnes of material onto a vessel. His previous method involved the use of a flat bed trailer with two ten-tonne buckets onboard. Loaders would fill the buckets before transport to the vessel site where a crane and a six-man crew would hook up the bucket and lift it over the hold. Another six-man crew inside the hold would partially unhook the bucket to unload the cargo. With two buckets, that meant the method required a total of 12 people on the ground and 12 people in the vessel. “It was a long
and painfully slow process,” says Vejar. Now, flash forward to his current method. Dump trucks
travel from the mines to the Guaymus port and unload material onto two truck unloaders which feed two TeleStacker conveyors. Each works simultaneously to load two ship holds at a time. “The TeleStacker Conveyors swing left to right, up and down, safely loading and trimming the cargo,” says Vejar, adding that with the use of this equipment, he has reduced his loading time by 75%, while requiring only one-third of the labour force he had needed previously.
The new equipment has also allowed Vejar to expand his service offerings into the transfer of material from specialized vessels which have a self-contained discharge system that feeds an onboard discharge conveyor. Material is transported from this conveyor at a rate of 1,000tph (tonnes per hour). In the past, numbers of excavators were used to stockpile the discharged material, and the vessel had to shut down the feed system and reposition along the dock every two hours. Now the discharge system can operate without any downtime via the use of a TeleStacker conveyor, which is fed by the discharge system. Material is then stockpiled in one large-volume configuration to await shipment by rail cars. Truck unloaders are placed on a platform above the rail tracks where they are used to feed the rail car hoppers. Vejar says that the method has reduced unload/load time at this port by more than 50%.
Domnick explains that there are three key travel modes that should be considered when considering a telescoping radial stacker in effective marine material handling: 1) an inline travel mode; 2) a dock travel or transverse travel mode with a 360° rotation; and 3) a radial travel or tow mode. Superior Industries, says Domnick, can combine its TeleStacker conveyor with a “mobile pivot base” that allows free-ranging transfer point mobility. Essentially, the mobile pivot base features a fixed-width head axle with a swiveling wheel carriage that allows rotation into each mode. Axle jacks relieve the weight, a hydraulic pin is released, and the unit swivels into the next position.
Lastly, Domnick stresses that marine material handling facilities should view the telescoping radial stacking conveyor as a “system” that can be custom-configured, via a wide range of available options, to meet the requirements of a specific application. “As an alternative to the use of labour-intensive cranes and clamshell buckets, cable stackers and other more costly stationary ship loading systems — the custom-configured telescoping radial stacking conveyor delivers the advantages of a lower capital investment, shorter lead times and quick onsite assembly,” he says.