Economic Solutions in Ports and Stockyards by SAMSON Materials Handling

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1 Economic Solutions in Ports and Stockyards by SAMSON Materials Handling By Barry Woodbine SAMSON Materials Handling Ely/England, July 03, 2014 Known as B&W Mechanical Handling till this last year SAMSON Materials Handling Ltd continue to push the boundaries of mobile handling solutions with a new range of wheel and track mounted equipment for stockpiling, and ship loading applications. Along with their established range of mobile Eco Hoppers SAMSON are able to offer environmentally sensitive solutions at each stage of the logistics chain from loading small coasters on river or canal berths through to postpanamax sized ships in large ports or dedicated terminals. Photo Gallery Figure 1) Second-hand Shiploader with SAMSON Material Feeder deployed at the Port of Spitsbergen to load Handymax ships as an interim solution Figure 2) New Link Conveyor and SAMSON Material Feeder with Cambered Boom Shiploader including a Radial Thrower Distributor for hold trimming 1/8

2 Figure 3) Mobile Stacking Conveyor at the Port of Vysotsk handling coal direct from wheeled loaders to stockpile prior to export Figure 4) Mobile Stormajor Radial Boom Stacker with integral SAMSON Material Feeder receive coal from tipping trucks to create off-port storage facility Figure 5) Grab Discharge into dust controlled Eco Hoppers for flexible import of coal and other materials 2/8

3 Figure 6) The new Stormajor Boom Feeder during commissioning trials With the international markets only now recovering from the financial crash of 2008 we see a significant increase in the application of mobile handling systems to take advantage of short term market positions, by virtue of their short lead times, or, as a stop-gap solution during the construction of larger, more permanent, facilities on dedicated berths. SAMSON have extended the performance range of mobile equipment to approach what is common achieved by fixed installations with loading rate to 2,500 tons per hour on a single unit. Fully mobile Shiploaders with their associated feeding and transfer systems offer the possibility to occupy a berth only during the loading of the vessel after which the complete equipment may easily be travelled clear and stored elsewhere allowing the berth to be utilised for other cargoes or even container handling. This solution is extended in reverse to the import of fuels using the Eco Hopper dust controlled import solution typically combined with a mobile harbour crane. Coal may be discharged to a multipurpose berth and trucked inland to a storage area off the port where it may be stockpiled using the SAMSON Stormajor mobile radial boom loader. An interesting and challenging project recently commissioned in Spitsbergen for the export of locally mined coal demonstrates the flexibility of mobile solutions and the longevity of the SAMSON equipment reused in this project from a much earlier order. Spitsbergen is the largest of a group of islands known as the Svalbard archipelago and practically the most northern point of Norway well inside the Arctic Circle subject to some of the most extreme 3/8

4 working conditions to be experienced in port operations. Coal mining has been the dominant commercial activity in this area through mainly Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani, a subsidiary of the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry, who operate the SAMSON equipment at the port. The port is iced for only short periods in the year thanks to the warming effect of the North Atlantic Current and land temperature range from plus 6 C in summer to minus 12 C in winter with occasional extremes. This important order came to SAMSON in two sections directly as a result of damages sustained in a severe spring storm to the existing coal loading system, which, at that time, was the only viable means of coal loading from the mine and then out of action threatened both mine production and client supplies of this very high quality material. This specific coal from Mine 7 and exported through this facility is used to in the production of modern Compacted Graphite Iron diesel engine cylinders, as produced by some of the major European engine manufacturers. Even with mobile equipment there is a build time but Store Norske needed an almost instant solution and in this situation had no option but to look in the first case at the second-hand market. Fortunately a SAMSON (formerly B&W) mobile Shiploader, originally supplied to the Port of Tees and Hartlepool in the UK, was available this unit was originally supplied to handle cereals in the 1980s and included also a mobile SAMSON Material Feeder and together the units could be easily upgraded to handle coal at high capacity. The used machines were acquired, dismantled and shipped to Spitsbergen where they were reassembled and put immediately to work loading coal from a quayside stockpile. Fortunately cereals and coal are a similar density but unfortunately have almost opposite handling characteristics, whereas cereals are highly free flowing coal is not implying the equipment would be able to handle significantly more volume requiring some minor modifications to the hydraulic drives to avoid overloading. Cereals have a dynamic repose angle on the conveyor belt of around zero and with inclined machines using a chevron belt the conveyed volume is very dependent upon the cleat height and pattern. Conversely coal has a dynamic repose angle of 15 degrees or more making the conveyed load section much greater allowing a vast increase in volumetric handling rate for the same belt speed. Consequently, to remain within the available power envelope, it is generally necessary to run the belts slower when handling coal on equipment originally designed for cereals. 4/8

5 With a slower running belt the drive torque is significantly increased demanding a larger displacement hydraulic motor generally demanding a motor change and often also a pulley change to accommodate the larger shaft diameter and increased shaft torque. None of these issues are a problem but it does imply machines do require some modification to switch materials unless these requirements were incorporated in the original specification. Using the independent SAMSON Material Feeder unit, again with minor modification to accommodate the material characteristics, the system was reconfigured to receive material direct from wheeled loaders. With these small changes the Shiploader was re-commissioned with a notional handling rate of 1,000 tons per hour loading vessels typically to Handymax size (35,000 DWT). Using the second-hand Shiploader gave Store Norse an export capacity to satisfy its clients and maintain production at the mine giving SAMSON some breathing space to design and manufacture a complete new installation based on their latest Mobile Solutions and specified for this application. The new Mobile Shiploader has a main boom of 55 metres and 1.4 metres wide plain belt and is supplied with a Radial Thrower/Distributer for hold trimming plus a mobile Link Conveyor and mobile SAMSON Feeder to receive coal from the local stockpile and provide a controlled feed rate to the ongoing conveyors. An on-board diesel gen-set provides power for the complete equipment including an extended lighting package and closed circuit camera system to monitor the critical areas, particularly in the long winter nights when the sun is not seen above the horizon. Whilst the ambient temperatures in Spitsbergen do not justify a Cold-Climate pack this equipment was nevertheless included in line with earlier deliveries to Greenland and to the Port of Vysotsk where, in Greenland particularly, weather conditions may be really extreme Using the mobile Link Conveyor (length 30 metres with a 1.4 metre belt) the Shiploader may be positioned on the quay to suit the vessel hold to be loaded and the SAMSON feeder unit positioned close to the quayside stockpile to reduce the loader travel distance and therefore the potential loading rate. To accommodate the dark long arctic nights and short days the equipment was supplied with extensive operational lighting all powered from the central diesel generator. For the Spitsbergen project a Radial Thrower Distributor, often known as a Jet Slinger, provides very effective hold trimming being able to throw the coal horizontally a distance of around 15 metres through a working arc of 350 degrees. This system can be used effectively to trim the whole hold from 5/8

6 a single machine position and eliminates completely the need to move the equipment (Shiploader, Link Conveyor and SAMSON Material Feeder) during the hold trimming operation. Consequently the effective through the ship loading rate is significantly increased as the lost time in manoeuvring the machinery in the hold is eliminated, other than the travel time between holds no further machine movements are required during the loading. This is particularly important with relatively light cargoes, such as coal with density as low as 0.8 tonnes per cubic metre, where capacity loading of every hold is critical to maximise the vessel utilisation. Using a variable speed control for the Thrower belt the trajectory may be varied to place the coal wherever the operator wishes for effective level trimming. Generally a handheld radio remote control is provided for the trimming operator who would normally stand on the vessel deck with a good view into the hold space. As noted above similar equipment was also supplied to the Port of Vysotsk including two mobile Shiploaders with two independent SAMSON Feeders. However, in addition a number of mobile stackers were also included designed to receive from wheeled loaders and transfer to quayside stockpile, maximising the available stockpile volume. SAMSON offer a wide range of mobile stacking equipment including the Stormajor and new Boom Feeder both based on a combined feeder and radial/luffing stacking boom both mounted to a common mobile chassis with either rubber tyred wheels, including the option of powered travel, or, the latest incarnations are caterpillar track mounted. The tracked option improves mobility on difficult ground conditions and gives a stable base to support the whole equipment with integral powered travel and steering capability. Two excellent examples of wheeled Stormajor units were commissioned recently at the Port of Jorf Lasfar in Morocco where coal is imported through the existing port facility using grab cranes with mobile hoppers to load conventional road tipping truck. Two Stormajor units are now operating at this port in different locations, the second unit being identical to the first but including powered travel and steering for improved mobility and faster repositioning as the stockpile develops. Coal is trucked off the port to the off-site storage area and transferred to stockpile using the Stormajor which, thanks to the radial boom feature, can create a level stockpile and maximise the stored volume on the available storage space. From the stockpile coal is recovered using wheeled loaders and transferred to rail wagons for inland distribution to power and cement plants. 6/8

7 The combination of Mobile Eco Hopper to receive from grabs on Mobile Harbour Cranes with truck movement and a Mobile Stacker gives the operator greatest flexibility both in operation for coal import and, as for the mobile Shiploader, the flexibility to move the coal handling equipment off the berth and revert to containerised, break-bulk or other cargoes as required thus maximising berth utilisation. In any situation mobile solutions offer flexibility at every stage from the mine to the port and for inland distribution from the terminal to barge and from barge to power plant both for loading and discharge. The established range of SAMSON products for coal import and inland distribution are now compliments by a new range of standard off the shelf products normally available from stock including telescopic stockpiling conveyors, caterpillar track mounted mobile link conveyor and stackers but most importantly a new range of Boom Feeders with tracked under gear, integral feeder and radial boom. The Boom Feeder is a universal materials handling tool designed for stockpiling, barge loading, loading rail wagons and as an emergency feed point for yard belts during stacker/reclaimer rebuilds. High flexibility in operation and low cost per ton loaded are clearly substantial benefits with mobile solutions at any point in the coal logistics chain but also fast track availability is a clear critical benefit In the post financial crash world short payback periods are mandatory to obtain project finance, similarly minimising project risk is critical and the ability to react to short term market positions opens the opportunity for quick returns even with short operating contracts. The Spitsbergen project in particular demonstrates the intrinsic value in mobile equipment which, with the minimum of upgrading, may be redeployed to a different duty or another port easily and quickly. 7/8

8 About the AUMUND Group The AUMUND Group is active worldwide. The conveying and storage specialists have special expertise at their disposal when dealing with bulk materials. With their high degree of individuality, both its technically sophisticated as well as innovative products have contributed to the AUMUND Group today being a market leader in many areas of conveying and storage technology. The manufacturing companies AUMUND Fördertechnik GmbH (Rheinberg, Germany), SCHADE Lagertechnik GmbH (Gelsenkirchen, Germany), SAMSON Materials Handling Ltd. (Ely, England), as well as AUMUND Logistic GmbH (Rheinberg, Germany) are consolidated under the umbrella of the AUMUND Group. In conjunction with the headquarters of the manufacturing companies, the global conveying and storage technology business is spearheaded through a total of eight locations in Asia, Europe, North and South America. Contact SAMSON Materials Handling Ltd. Gemini House Cambridgeshire Business Park, 1 Bartholomew`s Walk Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4EA / UK sales@samson-mh.com 8/8