Shiploading solutions from Bühler

Bühler Portacombi in action

 

Bühler shiploaders (and its unloaders) offer their operators great versatility in their applications: whether mobile or stationary, equipped with their own energy supply or supplied with electric power from the outside — they are sized to suit different needs and can be tailored to the local conditions.

 

The material is typically transferred to conveying systems which are permanently installed on the pier or directly to road or rail vehicles.

 

Shiploading systems and combined ship-unloaders/loaders

 

For decades, Bühler has been globally respected in the supply of systems for handling bulk materials such as cereal grains, oilseeds and derivatives. This includes mechanical and pneumatic ship-unloaders, shiploading systems, combined ship-unloaders and loaders and bulk storage facilities of all types of design. State-of-the-art Bühler control systems guarantee efficient operation of these systems.

 

Bühler has accumulated vast experience in the field of shiploading systems, which has produced technically matured and reliable solutions especially in Bühler’s activity in Argentina.

 

Customer requirements and project parameters vary to such a wide extent that decades of experience are needed for successfully designing and constructing such systems.

Bühler has demonstrated these capabilities in a wide variety of projects for a large number of customers around the world.

 

In the selection of the type of shiploaders, diverse parameters are crucial, for example:

 

* location of the system and type of material supply;

* loading throughput and ship sizes; and

* water levels of rivers or sea tides.

 

The selection of a mobile or stationary loading system will depend on the terrain, the infrastructure and the operating parameters. Loading terminals with piers are typically equipped with mobile shiploaders. Terminals without piers are provided usually with stationary loading towers with booms, which can be slewed, lifted and lowered. They are capable of loading one or simultaneously two holds with throughputs of 2,000tph (tonnes per hour) and more.

 

An example of such a facility is the Terminal of Santarém in Brazil, which has been in service since 2003. This stationary design has three loading towers and one loading line with a throughput of 1,500tph.

 

Efficient and versatile

 

The loading of sea-going vessels by stationary loaders has proven to be an efficient and cost-effective solution. These units allow ship holds to be loaded individually or simultaneously by several loading lines. Their possible loading boom motions (lifting, lowering, and slewing) eliminate the need for time-consuming shifting of ships. If required, the loading booms can be equipped with a kick system to optimize loading of the ship holds.

 

Hydraulically powered deflection shovels attached to the end of the loading spouts increase the area that can be loaded. Often, low-dust loading systems are demanded in order to satisfy operating as well as environmental requirements.

 

Bühler loading installations with throughputs of 2,000tph of grain are based on vast experience and dependable engineering and have been successfully applied in numerous countries.

Exports from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, the US, China, Australia, etc. are carried out by such systems, which are capable of loading ships up to 120,000dwt (Capesize).

 

Flexible and cost-effective

 

Mobile rail-mounted shiploaders are distinguished by their high flexibility. The combination of the shiploader’s capability of travelling along the ship’s side, the vertical boom motions and the kick-in/kick-out technique of the loading spout allow an ideal loading of a wide variety of ship types and sizes.

 

Excellent examples of such loading terminals are the systems operated by Bunge Alimentos S.A. and Terlogs S.A. in San Francisco do Sul in Brazil. Each of the two loaders is capable of loading up to 2,000tph of soybeans or wheat or 1,500tph of soybean meal.

 

Combined mechanical ship-unloaders and loaders

 

Combined ship-unloading and loading systems for cereal grains, oilseeds and derivatives are frequently applied in facilities with import and export activities. They may also be used after processes such as oil extraction from soybeans, where the extraction meals are sold to further processors. Combined ship-unloading and loading systems are available in a wide variety of design versions.

 

The Portacombi is based on the best-known mechanical ship-unloader Portalink. An example of such a facility is the Arasco project in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. The Portacombi in this installation is applied as an efficient unit for unloading and loading wheat, corn (maize), barley and soybean meal.

 

The unloading throughput for grain is 600tph and soybean meal can be unloaded with a throughput up to 360tph from ships with sizes up to 70,000dwt. Ships with sizes up to 20,000dwt are loaded at a throughput rate of 300tph.

 

The Portacombi is equipped with bogies, enabling it to travel on rails. The shuttling distance along the pier is 200 metres, which enables it to easily access all ship holds.

 

Mobile rail-mounted shiploader in Tallinn

 

A substantial part of the grain from the countries of the former Soviet Union is exported through Estonian ports. As far back as in 1986, Bühler commissioned a grain handling facility in this Baltic country. The new shiploader in Tallinn is installed on a finger pier. The throughput of the installation is 1,200tph.

 

Increasingly stringent in-plant, sanitation and environmental requirements in terms of dust emissions are satisfied by the dust suppressor type RGLZ. It regulates the material throughput in such a manner that the material velocity at the outlet of the spout is only little and therefore no dust will be whirled at the spout outlet.