The date 1 October 2011 will remain a milestone in the history of Italian manufacturer Sammi, a provider of equipment for offshore bulk handling. On that date, Sammi celebrated the successful completion of one of the most complex contracts recently awarded to the company: an offshore vessel loading system which will be installed on the Bulk Kremi transshipper. The project has been undertaken by Coeclerici Logistics Spa (CCL), a major presence in the transshipment of dry bulk cargo, and it has a long history of co-operation and partnership with Sammi.
The Floating Transfer Station (FTS) Bulk Kremi I is one of seven owned units in CCL’s fleet. The FTS handles mainly sulphur cargo but also handles iron ore and coal in the Black Sea. With the addition of the new shiploader, Bulk Kremi I will further increase its yearly offshore transshipping capacity.
The plant in its entirety consists of two hoppers, two belt conveyors for the extraction of material from the hoppers, three conveyor belts of lengths up to 60m and one shiploader with slewing, luffing and shuttling functions with a total span of 30m when fully extracted.
The shiploader, with its total weight of 90 tonnes, has three key features that allow it to reach all corners of the holds of merchant ships up to 80,000dwt. These characteristics translate into the ability to load material at each point of the holds, to optimize load capacity and, not least, to enable a reduction in load times. This ability means, in other words, more revenue for the customer.
Particular attention was paid to limiting dust spillage from the plant, by adopting the most advanced solutions and installing components from leading international sub-contractors in reducing emissions system.
Notable among these solutions is the use of a cascade loading chute, which offers the double advantage of reducing
dust emissions at the base of the chute, and also reducing degradation of product and impact abrasion of the material.
 
EVENT
In the presence of more than 200 guests, included among which was the customer Coeclerici Logistics Spa, representatives of local government and industrial associations and main project partners, Floriano Bussetti (general manager of Sammi) welcomed Sammi’s latest challenge in equipment for offshore bulk handling.
During his speech, Bussetti emphasized that the whole Bulk Kremi plant, including the shiploader, was completely conceived, designed and fabricated on Sammi premises in Narni Scalo, and
the whole process of engineering and construction took only ten months.
The plant will be soon shipped to its final destination (Ukraine seas) to be installed on the 14,500dwt geared pontoon Bulk Kremi (the transshipper) which has been already provided with two cranes.
 
The shiploader is of course the heart and the crown jewel of a broader system, and it has the following main features:
  • boom with slewing, shuttling and luffing functions;
  • material transfer from the feed chute at the pivot structure to the boom tip;
  • retractable loading chute, for efficient material distribution and to reduce dust emissions; and
  • luffing angle up to 50° to pass over vessel’s mast or cranes to enable quick hold changes during loading;.
This plant is particularly notable, as it is the first in Europe that is suitable for the offshore transshipment of pelletized sulphur, a material that gives off highly flammable dust. For this reason, the design had to be developed within the European ATEX Directive (94/9/EC) for products intended to be used in potentially explosive atmospheres. This fact led to a further technical effort by Sammi to match the design requirements of the directive.
It is expected that the Bulk Kremi pontoon will be brought into service very soon (at the beginning of 2012), as most of the problems that normally arise during the commissioning process have been already faced and solved by Sammi technicians.
On the occasion of project presentation, the company also organized a demonstration of shiploader operation, which was placed on a test platform erected for workshop test and project presentation on the external area of Sammi premises.
The pre-assembly activities for the shiploader started at the beginning of August, and after the successful operational test the machine will be now partially dismounted to be shipped.
Another aspect that the general management of Sammi wanted to highlight during the day of 1 October is that the company will not cease to invest, as it always has done, in human resources and specific modern equipment, with the result that brought the company to be a major company in design, supply
Bulk Kremi shiploader running at full inclination.
and installation of industrial plants. “Thanks to its ever increasing investment,” said Bussetti,“the
company is today able to deal with the demands of many national and foreign customers,”
As proof of that, in the current year the company has been awarded of a contract for the design and supply of a 2,000tph (tonnes per hour) offshore turnkey coal handling system, to be installed in a new transshipper owned by Coeclerici Logistics Spa, and a new contract for a plant with similar features will be signed by end of 2011.
As well as the projects already in hand, the company is also undergoing feasibility studies for a range of handling rates as well as for a range of equipment to meet all the bulk handling needs of its customers.