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HANDLING • TRANSPORT • STORAGE • DISTRIBUTION • PROCESSING MAY/JUNE 2006

CONTENTS

NEWS

Metso has a tipple 2

Mantsinen on track 2

Liebherr’s new plant 3

Gottwald hits 1000 4

Iron ore on the net 5

DB ahead of schedule 20

HOLLAND/BELGIUM

Amsterdam gateway role? 6

Rotterdam’s good outlook7

Zeeland & Ghent updates 8

CARGO HANDLING

Pneumatic unloaders 10

Longer cable life 12

FIBCs on the up and up 14

Bagging systems review 17

COMMODITY FOCUS

Fertilisers 19

.

Cargotec to buy BMH MarineThe acquisitive Cargotec en-gineering group, which al-ready owns Kalmar, Bromma,Hiab and MacGregor, is set toenter the bulk handling equip-ment sector. It has made anagreement to buy BMH Ma-rine AB, the Swedish com-pany specialising in dry bulkhandling equipment throughthe Nordströms and Siwertellbrand names. The debt-freeacquisition price is €32M.The deal is subject to compe-tition authority approval.

BMH Marine was sold byBabcock to Catella PrivateEquity in 2003. Catella hasconsiderable experience inimproving company perform-ance and BMH’s turnover isforecast to reach SEK646M(€70M) this year compared toSEK370M in 2002-3.

Although the sale of BMHMarine was expected, theidentity of the buyer has sur-prised many industry observ-ers. Cargotec no longer hasany mineral bulk extractiveand processing interests andits only bulk handling equip-

One of two 2000 tph Siwertell coal unloaders during

commissioning this year for Mai Lao Power Corporation,

Taiwan, designed to work ships from 60,000 to 180,000dwt. The machines will also be used to unload solar salt and

limestone. BMH Marine has previously supplied three

Siwertell unloaders of a similar capacity to the same plant

ment interests up to now havebeen hatch covers and ship-board cranes from theMacGregor division, whichspecialises in shipboardcranes and access equipment.

Cargotec’s Kalmar divi-sion is specialised in containerhandling equipment and is the

world’s biggest supplier in thisfield, with production facili-ties in Sweden, Finland, theUS, China and Malaysia.

BMH Marine’s key offer-ing is handling equipment forbulk terminals and self-unloaders. The key marketarea is Asia, which represents

almost half of sales. Servicerepresents another 30% of an-nual sales.

BMH will form part of theMacGregor business unit.Cargotec’s CEO MikaelMäkinen said the BMH busi-ness model of no own produc-tion facilities is an excellentfit with MacGregor. The sizeof the service business is alsoin line with Cargotec’s model.

Interestingly MacGregorand BMH Marine worked onthe same contract recentlywhen MacGregor supplied thedeck cranes and BMH de-signed the self-dischargingsystem for the BOCA GRANDE IIfloating terminal (BMI March/April 2006, p4). It is thoughtthat this contact may havegenerated interest in forminga stronger relationship.

It is not known whether theBMH (Babcock MaterialsHandling) name will be re-tained or whether Cargotecwill revert to the Siwertell andNordströms names, by whichthe product lines of the com-pany are still widely known.

Italy-based ship agent andshipbroker Banchero Costahas signed a ground-break-ing Letter of Intent with theVinashin shipyard in Viet-nam for the construction ofup to nine self-unloadingbulkers for various Italianship operators.

Two (+ two options) are forPremuda for delivery in 2009,valued at US$55M. Anothertwo (+ two) Panamax shipsare for Mebship, which is therecently-formed joint ventureof Messina Lines and EnergyShipping, for delivery in 2008.

These two double-hulledships will be built in accord-ance with the Diamond 34project carried out by Den-mark-based ship design con-sultancy CarlBro.

“They are state-of-the artships, fitted with 30t craneswith 10 m3 grabs and with aservice speed of 14 knots,”says Energy Shipping’s man-aging director Pietro Repetto.

About 54% of EnergyShipping’s activities today arefor the account of third parties,although the company wasoriginally set up to providecaptive shipping services forEnergy Coal. Third party cus-tomers today include Enel,Endesa and E.on.

New self-unloaderseries

“Beetle wood” could becomea 2 mtpa export commodityfor British Columbia (BC)ports thanks to the MountainPine Beetle that is slowly andinexorably destroying the pineforests that grow in the valleysand slopes of the RockyMountains. It is the biggestsingle disaster ever to have hitthe province’s forest industry.

However, in the midst ofit, a European company isinvesting in four local plantsthat will turn these trees intohigh density wood pellets tofeed industrial furnaces inEurope that are in the proc-ess of converting from coalto a more ecologically-friendly fuel, as well as coal-fired power plants anxiousto reduce their emissions.

Norway-based Tall OilAB and its Canadian sub-sidiary C H Anderson &Partners Ltd, based in Van-couver, BC see the hugestands of dead trees as a“gold mine” waiting to beharvested, processed andshipped to European buyers.

The source of supply is, inpractical terms, limitless. In2004 aerial surveys identifiedroughly 7M hectares of treesthat had been killed by thebeetle. Last year this hadgrown to 8.7M hectares andthis year the beetle has spread

Beetles: opportunity from crisiseven further afield and has in-vaded the forests in the neigh-bouring province of Alberta.

Gary Griffith, spokesper-son for C H Anderson saidthat while there is already anexisting European marketfor wood pellets used forheating homes, there is agrowing, and potentiallymassive, market being cre-ated by industries and coal-fired generator plants inter-ested in using biofuels.

The demand for wood pel-lets to feed furnaces previ-ously fuelled by coal is sogreat that the company is plan-ning to build four pelletingplants in North Central BC ata cost of C$110M. The millsare to be built near the com-munities of Vanderhoof,Fraser Lake and Quesnel.

C H Anderson was thesuccessful (and only) bidderfor four beetle-timber sal-vage licenses offered by theProvince of British Colum-bia last autumn. Together,the licenses total more than1M m3 of wood a year andthey are each valid for a 10-year period.

Only trees that have beenkilled by beetles will be usedin the pelletising process. Thecompany says that any living,high value trees will be eithersold or traded to other mills.

Plans are under way to shipthe pellets through the Port ofVancouver and possibly thePort of Kitimat. However,Griffith said that the plant istalking to every bulk handling

facility in BC, includingRidley Island Coal Terminalin the Port of Prince Rupert.

Each plant will have thecapacity to produce 400,000-500,000 tpa and the companyis hoping eventually to be ex-porting 2 mtpa to Europeanbuyers.

Production of some

fertilisers is switching to

lower cost energy regions

For more information please visit our website www.cavotec.com

Cavotec in action.

IN ACTION 34

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bmi_sec1.qxd 28/7/06 1:39 pm

BMI May/June 20062

News

Metso Minerals is to supplytwo lines of triple railcar un-loading stations to JingtangPort, in Hebei province,China. Both lines are due tobe commissioned in August2007. The value of the orderis put at around €8.2M andcomprises engineering and de-sign, partial equipment supplyand start-up assistance.

Metso Minerals’ contractfor the project is with ChinaCommunications Construc-tion Group Ltd, which will actas the main contractor. Theorder includes the primaryengineering and design of therail wagon unloading equip-ment for the second phase ofdevelopment at the port.

Each line consists of trainmoving equipment for index-

Metso has a tippleing the train through the un-loading station and a rotarydumper that rotates three railcars at once. Each line will becapable of unloading trains atthe rate of 93 rail wagons perhour. For coal, this translatesinto an unloading rate of over7400 tph per line.

Jingtang Port forms part ofthe Tangshan Economic andTechnological Zone. Oncecompleted the project will en-able the export of 30 mtpa ofcoal and will support themovement of coal from thenorth of China to the newpower stations in the South.Jingtang will be only the sec-ond port in the world to oper-ate triple car dumpers, all theothers being either single ortandem machines.

Italy-based handling equip-ment systems specialistRoncuzzi reports a turnkeyorder for a biomass (woodchippellets) handling system com-prising wagon and truckunloaders, conveyors, eleva-tors, reclaimer and shiploaderfor the new Port of Ust-Luga,close to Saint Petersburg.

The project is being un-dertaken jointly with UK-based Creole. The new facil-ity, catering for growingbiomass feed into coal-firedpower plant in Western Eu-rope, will be able to loadships up to 20,000 dwt.

Roncuzzi recently com-pleted bulk handling installa-

New deals for Roncuzzitions built to comply withATEX norms in PortoMarghera (Venice) and is cur-rently involved in anotherproject for the TRI bulk han-dling group, also in Venice.

The company also reportsthe sale of two more of itspopular line of “Green Hop-per” rubber-tyred, dedustinghoppers, to the Egyptian Portof Amerya, to be used forclinker discharge.

Sales have been increasingrecently and the company,which is moving into newpremises in Mezzano di Ra-venna next year, is forecast-ing a further 20% increase inturnover this year.

Malaysian Bulk Carriers(MBC) post-Panamax bulkcarrier ALAM PERMAI lifted arecord cargo of bauxite fromthe Guinean Port of Kamsarwhen it loaded 75,454t to adraught of 12.92m recently.The ship’s Loa of 229m alsomakes it the longest ship thatcan call at Port Kamsar.

The vessel is of IHI Future87 design. “Although manypost-panamax bulkers havefive holds and hatches,” saidcommercial director Keith

MBC carries record loadDenholm, “the IHI design in-corporates seven holds andhatches that allow greatercargo flexibility, notably in theability to lift grains, whilst re-taining the ability to load inalternate holds.

“The bulkers are popularwith charterers which is nosurprise given that they canload 10-11,000t more cargothan modern Panamax ships.We worked closely with IHIto maximise flexibility withintraditional Panamax trades.”

KE Kranbau Eberswalde hasdelivered its first balancecrane to the Norwegian Arc-tic Circle. Rana Industriter-minal in Mo I Rana uses it tounload scrap for Rio DoceManganese Norway and FesilRana Metall. On the basis ofa a 3-shift operation, annualthroughput is estimated at725,000t.

The rail-mounted crane,type BC 380, is rated at 12t atmax. outreach of 31m. As ithas the same capacity as twocranes previously used to un-

KE cranes in the Arcticload scrap, it significantly re-duces operating and mainte-nance costs.

In another development,last month KE handed overtwo new heavy duty, doublelever luffing cranes to Turk-ish steel mill Isdemir, in Izmir,for unloading scrap and re-loading slabs. The cranes arerated at 55t under hook andhave an outreach of 55m, suit-able for vessels up to 30,000dwt. They were designed andbuilt to the highest FEM clas-sification A8/M8.

Finland-based Mantsinen Oyhas handed over its first rail-mounted crane, fitted with a355 kW electric motor, to bulkoperator M Zietzschmann inDuisburg. This 140 ER has aheight under portal of 5.2mand 14m rail centres. It spanstwo flush-mounted traintracks but mostly transloadsfrom vessel to road trucksSelf-weight is 170t. The travelreel and sliprings are fromCavotec and long travel is40m + 40m.

There are several reasonsfor a rail-mounted applicationhere: the narrow geometry ofthe pier, with sheds close tothe apron, the limited dockloading for a rubber-tyred orcrawler-mounted crane, andthe need for shore-based elec-trical power to reduce noisenuisance to nearby housing.

The crane, supplied withtwo Smag clamshell grabs anda universal hook, handles ironore, granite blocks, fertilisers,big bags and steel coils. Liftcapacity is 12t-20m.

A smaller rail-mountedcrane, designated 100 ER, isbeing supplied to Hafen Ges.Brünsbuttel, to handle copperfor Norde Deutsche Affineriein the Port of Hamburg. Thishas a rail spread of 6m andwill tow a rail-travelling hop-per, through which cargo willbe loaded to conveyor.

A new customer for aMantsinen RCT 110 crawler-mounted hydraulic crane isBristol Port Company Ltd(BPC) in England. This has

Mantsinen on trackbeen purchased to add versa-tility (eg, a new stone handlingcontract was won recently byBPC). It is being supplied with6 m3 and 4 m3 grabs. Peak rate(for fertilisers, animal feeds)is put at 540 tph and through-the-ship rate at 400 tph.

BPC has also ordered anHSK 260 EG from Gottwald,to travel on 14.3m span rails.BPC believes that ropeless,hydraulic cranes are the wayforward for fast-cycling andquick ship turnaround, butdock loadings are a limitationtoday for these crawler- orrubber tyre-mounted cranesand that is why Mantsinen’snew rail-mounted ER seriescould turn out to be very sig-nificant,

The Gottwald will be fit-ted with a 16 m3 grab and willtow a twin-feed hopper. It israted at 750 tph peak rate and500 tph through the ship. Bothcranes will be deployed atAvonmouth. The Gottwaldwill be located at the WestWharf and will work along-side two existing 12.5tKanagaroo cranes. The craneswill be used on the full rangeof ships up to 31m beam“Handy” size based on theAvonmouth lock gates.

Mantsinen also reports anorder for a 110 RCT harbourcrane for Mozambique. Liftcapacity is 8.5t-22m and max.horizontal outreach is around26m. Mantsinen will deliverseveral attachments to the cus-tomer so the crane can be usedfor a wide range of cargoes.

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BMI May/June 2006 3

News

The Liebherr group has officiallyopened its new €60M factory inRostock. The massive Liebherr-MCCtec Rostock GmbH productionplant has its own pier for load-out ofcranes and reception of large com-ponents and sub-assemblies.

The plant is currently manufac-turing portals for ship-to-shore con-tainer cranes and is supplying 30,000manufacturing hours in connectionwith the order for 14 cranes receivedby Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd inIreland from SAPO, South Africa,for Durban and CapeTown.

The waterside load-out capabili-ties at Rostock are ideal for shipmentof fully-erect cranes, such asLiebherr’s larger harbour mobilecranes, LHM 400, LHM 500 andnow, the new LHM 600. The first ofthese is on order from Korea for steelhandling and the second is a specialbulk version with 2 x 104t winchesthat has been ordered by TPSTarragona, a key customer forLiebherr in Spain. This crane is ratedat up to 2500 tph in coal. TPS hasalso ordered three LHM 500s,mainly for coal handling.

In grab operation, the 4-ropeLHM 600 G is rated at 90t-12m (grabplus load) and 34t-58m. The LHM600 being supplied to INI Steel Com-pany in Korea is also a 4-rope cranewith two 104t winches, but is notconfigured for grab duties. It has amaximum lift of 208t between 12mand 18m radius.

Liebherr is also supplying a “spe-cial edition” LHM 500 S to the USPort of Vancouver (Wa). This has 2x 70t winches with a maximum hookload of 140t, but the load curve hasbeen specially increased.

The crane is powered by a 12-cylinder MAN diesel engine thatis biodiesel-compatible. The cranepurchase is aimed at positioningVancouver as the main projectcargo port on the Columbia River.

Liebherr gears up and gets heavyCoeclerici Logistics (CCL) hasstrengthened its position with therenewal, for another 1-year term, ofthe lighterage contract with steelmaker Kremikovtzi in Bulgaria.

CCL’s floating transfer station(FTS) BULK KREMI 1 started operationin 2000. Before then, the steel mill hadto receive coal and ore in smaller shipsor part-loaded panamax ships due todraft restrictions at Burgas. The FTScan lighten Panamaxes at 18,000 tpd.

All-told in 2005 CCL handledmore than 12 mt of dry bulk com-modities and the figure this year is

Volumes up for CCLexpected to be higher. Its most re-cent FTS BULK PIONEER commencedoperation last September, in a jv withIndonesian barge operator PT MitraBahtera Segarasejati. BULK PIONEER iscapable of loading 400,000t of coalper month for PT Kaltim Prima Coal.● Two new managing directors havebeen named by Coeclerici, for CCLand for Coeclerici Coal and Fuels -Andrea Clavarino and GiovanniMarchelli. Clavarino is currentlypresident of Assocarboni andEuriscoal and is on the IEA’s CoalAdvisory Board.

Security concerns have been raisedover foreign involvement in theGangavaram dry bulk port project inSouth India.

Malaysia’s Integrax Berhad re-cently bought a 20% stake inGangavaram Port Ltd (GPL) inwhich D V S Raju and Company hasa 51% stake and Andhra Pradesh(AP) regional government 11% (inexchange for 1800 acres of land).The rest is held by an unnamed USFund. (Originally D P World was totake a 13% stake but exited when itsrequest to buy a “blocking minority”stake was turned down).

According to unnamed analystsquoted in Asian Age, the presence ofa foreign port operator near EasternNaval Command will pose a secu-rity threat. Gangavaram is only 15to 20 kms from Visakhapatnam, thehub of nuclear submarine activities.

AP is unwilling to part with in-formation on the subject. E A SSarma, a former secretary to the stategovernment, said he had asked fordetails of the project under the RightTo Information Act, but his letter wasreturned unopened. He said “it raisessuspicion” about the project.

Gangavaram, which is expectedto cost Rs17B, will initially have sixberths for coal, iron ore and other drybulk cargoes. Under the GPL plan,it will eventually have 29 berths anda capacity for 200 mtpa.

Indian portproject snag

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bmi_sec1.qxd 26/7/06 12:24 pm

BMI May/June 20064

News

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The 1000th harbour mobilecrane to be built by Gottwaldin the 50 years since it intro-duced them was commis-sioned in May at PDTeesport’s Tees Dock, UK.

Rated at 100t x 11-24m/38t-50m, it is an HMK 330EG normally associated withdedicated bulk handling, butin this case the crane has beenbuilt mainly to handle steelproducts for Corus Steel. Fit-ted with 2 x 50t winches, it isspecially rated at 63t-35m, so2 x 30t steel slabs can be han-dled at the same time withouthaving to “gear down” toslower speeds.

In this way PD Teesportcan assure Corus of high pro-ductivity. The crane has thenormal seven axle lines for theHMK 300/330 series but thedistance between the axles hasbeen adapted for the quay.

It is among the last of theHMK 300/330s to be deliv-ered as production has nowswitched to the Generation 5G HMK cranes announced atthe start of this year (BMI,March/April 2006, p15).Gottwald’s January-May ref-erence list of 36 cranes in-cludes five G HMK 7608cranes (140t) for Intership andtwo G HMK 7408 cranes(100t) for Ayala Colón, bothin the Port of San Juan (PR).

The first Generation 5 4-rope grab crane will be deliv-ered to Ership in Huelva,Spain - a G HMK 8210 B,with a 50t grab curve.

Gottwald is also enjoying

Gottwald hits 1000

further success with its HPKbarge-mounted cranes. LowerMississippi operator St JamesStevedoring in Convent (La)ordered a second HPK 330EG and another Convent (La)mid-stream operator, Associ-ated Terminals, has also or-dered an HPK 330 EG.

In a new development,SRT in Charleston, part ofKinder Morgan, has orderedportal cranes for two bargesthat will long-travel on thebarge on rails. These two HSK330 EGs will be the first HSKrail portal-mounted cranessupplied for barges.

In keeping with theAmClyde and Cooper T Smithstevedoring traditions, therails are curved upwards foreand aft on concrete beams, toensure that the crane is alwaysin the correct horizontal planeeven though its weight is caus-ing the barge to trim fore oraft. They will mainly be usedto handle coal from PuertoDrummond in Colombia.

HSK 260 EG in Bordeaux

Germany-based Terex Fuchs has introduced a new “pickand carry” timber handler, designated MHL 454, with a

service weight of 33t and a reach of 10.85m. It is powered

by a Stage IIIa, 6-cylinder Deutz in-line engine that delivers

176 kW of power at 1900 rpm. The boom pivot pointhas been moved to the back of the unit to provide

maximum visibility of the work area and the turning radius

is a compact 5.5m. For transportation purposes, the cab

can be tilted forward 90 deg in order not to exceed themaximum allowable height on the roads. As previously

reported, other recent developments from Terex Fuchs

include the D series MHL 350 and MHL s360 handlers,

that have a longer undercarriage base for even greater

stability as well as higher service weights - up from 32tto 35.5t and from 44t to 46t respectively. They are fitted

with the latest Stage IIIa engines developing 145 kW and

186 kW power output and, says the company, their

geometry and hydraulic system with power limit controlensure even faster loading sequences and make extremely

sensitive movements possible with pin-point accuracy

Kimberly-Clark (KC) is aim-ing to remove more than600,000 lorry miles/year fromEnglish roads by shipping upto 41,000 tpa of pulp directlyfrom Vlissingen to AssociatedBritish Ports (ABP) Port ofBarrow.

Previously pulp wasshipped through KC’s termi-nal on the River Thames andtrucked to its Barrow paper

mill. The new operation willspare the roads 1783 350-milelong lorry journeys/year.

The pulp will be shippedthrough ABP Barrow for on-ward delivery by truck toKC’s local tissue-paper fac-tory that uses up to 90,000tpa of pulp and has recentlyseen the start of the firstphase of a £40M expansionprogramme.

Barrow saves road miles

The Carbones del CararePort Company has soughtofficial permission to es-tablish a maritime port atCapulco, Colombia, lo-cated some 4.8 km fromGamarra, Cesar province.

The proposed installa-tion, which would be ableto handle 2 mtpa of coal,would receive consign-ments from mines in south-ern Cesar and Santander, aswell as from other mines inNorthern Santander.

If built, this port wouldact as Colombia’s maindispatching point for coalmined in the country’s in-terior, being transported bybarge along the riverCormagdalena

From Capulco, bargetrains will serve Cartagenafour times monthly, withthe former having a load-ing capacity of 1000 tph.

New coalport plan

US-based Martin EngineeringServices Group, LLC, the en-gineering and project manage-ment business unit of MartinEngineering, has taken overthe hardware assets andworkforce of Stahura Indus-trial Services, Inc (SISI),based in Butler (Pa).

The SISI offices will be-come Martin’s Eastern re-gional office and its formergeneral manger Andrew J.Stahura III joins Martin as asenior project manager.

Since its formation in Feb-ruary 2005, Martin Engineer-ing Services Group has of-fered “turnkey” project man-agement, engineering, pro-curement and constructionservices to the bulk materialshandling industries. Based inKirkland, Washington, thebusiness is focused on the de-velopment of Martin Engi-neering’s conveyor technolo-gies and it also offers projectand programme management

Martin says SISIservices that may include en-gineering, procurement, andconstruction of Martin Engi-neering material handlingtechnologies.

SISI comes to Martin withsix employees and more than11 years experience in im-proving solids handling. Typi-cal SISI projects have in-cluded improvements to con-veyor belts, crushers, chutes,feeders, load zones, bunkers,stack-out systems, reclaimunits, and barge unloaders.

“The addition of SISIbroadens and strengthens thecapabilities of Martin Engi-neering Services Group,” saidSteve Laccinole, president ofthe unit. “Combining the tech-nological and people assetsfrom both companies makesthe sum greater than theparts.” Martin Engineeringhas also announced a newCenter for Innovation, to bebuilt in Neponset (Il). Con-struction work begins shortly.

Flexible Steel Lacing Com-pany (Flexco) has announcedthe introduction of Flex-Lifter, a conveyor belt lifterwith a 1810kg safe lift rating.The company claims that itoffers the highest lift capacityavailable for current genera-tion conveyor systems.

The portable beltline main-tenance tool is designed to liftfully loaded, troughed or flatconveyor belts undergoingmaintenance or emergencyrepair. Flex-Lifter’s troughedbelts use adjustable wings andflat return belts through a re-turn lift bar included with eachunit.

The Flex-Lifter is availablein two versions with one sizedesigned for belt widths from900mm to 1500mm and thelarger size for belts from

Conveyor maintenance1200mm to 1800mm. Adjust-able extension legs slide outto fit the conveyor structure.Lifts are made from under-neath the belt without the needfor potentially damagingclamps on the edges or cover.

When raised, Flex-Lifterprovides workspace for safe,easy changing of worn idlerrollers, maintaining impactbeds or establishing a splicingstation for belt repairs.

The smaller modelachieves a vertical lift of350mm and the larger one400mm. They can be operatedby a ratchet, drill motor orimpact wrench, enablingworkers to lift the belt whilesafely standing at its side.

Standing 169mm high inthe closed position, the com-pact units fit and extend eas-ily in confined areas. De-signed with a carrying handle,the units are easy to transportand place in different placesalong the conveyor belt line.

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bmi_sec1.qxd 26/7/06 12:24 pm

BMI May/June 2006 5

News

Smaller Chinese steel makers haveturned to the Internet to find iron ore.It has become more and more diffi-cult to get supplies through tradi-tional channels as the country’s rapidindustrialisation in recent years hasput a squeeze on domestic supplies.

Iron ore on the net...Amid high prices and greater state

control over the ore, steel companiesare clicking on website marketplaceAlibaba to find the raw material.

Beijing Hero Trade now offersiron ore among its listings onAlibaba’s Chinese site. “We started

posting iron ore late last year,” saidSun Gongmin, who runs the compa-ny’s Internet marketing operations.

As well as iron ore from Brazil,Beijing Hero’s pages on Alibaba alsolist Canadian gas, Indonesian coal,scrap copper and American yellowpine sawdust. “A lot of people havecontacted us, mostly other tradingcompanies helping their clientssource a few thousand tons of ironore here or there,” Sun said.

Viewers can even subscribe forthe latest iron ore opportunities withTrade Alert! on Alibaba. The Shang-hai Huozhiyao Import Export Tradealso offers Indonesian and Brazilianspot ore. Interested parties are re-

quired to contact the sellers to getmore information about price, vol-ume and transportation details.

Finding iron ore at affordableprices is proving harder for Chinesecompanies as the market is domi-nated by three players. Brazil’sCompanhia Vale do Rio Doce andAnglo-Australian groups BHPBilliton and Rio Tinto account for75% of the world’s iron ore supplies.

They are riding a wave of recordprofit from an ongoing global com-modity boom fueled by Chinese de-mand for raw materials.Brisk growthin China’s vast but fragmented steelindustry has left the country with avoracious appetite for iron ore.

Many local steel mills in Chinaoperate on tighter margins than theirforeign counterparts. As the biggeststeel producer in the world, Chinahas contributed most to the globalgrowth of steel supply in recentyears, which has tremendously ben-efited iron ore producers.

China’s iron ore demand in-creased by 75.9 mt in 2004 and 121.8mt in 2005. The country imported108 mt in the first four months thisyear, up 23.5% over the same periodof last year, and the full-year figureis estimated to top 301 mt, up 10%from 2005. Analysts estimate thatChinese steel makers will consume40% of global output this year.

China's steel makers look set to ac-cept a 19% increase in iron oreprices, falling in line with the bench-mark agreed by European and Japa-nese companies. China’s steelmakersaccount for 43% of global importsof iron ore and they tried to set pricesthis year after a record 71.5% in-crease in imports last year. But theirbargaining position weakened inMay after ThyssenKrupp became thefirst leading steel maker to agree tothe 19% increase, followed quicklyby other European, Japanese andSouth Korean companies.

Six months ago CVRD startedpushing for a 24.6% increase andChinese resistance has graduallyweakened. “There is no room left forChina to manoeuvre,” said Fu Hao,analyst at E-Fund Management inShenzhen. “It's a take it or leave itsituation,” said David McDonald, afund manager at Allianz Global In-vestors Australia. “The Chinese havetried very hard, but it just goes toshow the dominance of iron ore sup-pliers and how tight the market is.”

The bargaining position ofCVRD, BHP and Rio was strength-ened even further after cyclones anda rail disruption cut supplies fromAustralia and Brazil this year. The19% increase is the second-biggestprice jump in 25 years, according toinvestment bank ABN Amro.

Last year’s hefty increase cameon the back of surging demand fromChina, which is increasing steel out-put to meet ever growing demand athome.China’s iron ore imports havetripled over the past five years;China overtook Japan as the largestbuyer in 2003. Customs figures showChina’s imports of iron ore rose23.5% to 108 mt in the first four

...Higher prices paid

Czech-based Skodaexport has an-nounced plans to build a new portcomplex at Nizampatnam, in theSouth Indian state of AndhraPradesh, in collaboration with Infra-structure Corporation of AndhraPradesh Ltd. (Incap). The complexwill include a port, a special eco-nomic zone, a power plant and a ureamanufacturing unit. It will costUS$1B and take four years to build.

“The SEZ alongside the port com-plex will host a 250 MW captivecoal-based power plant and a500,000 tpa urea plant,” saidSkodaexport's CEO JaroslavHubacek. “The detailed project re-port will be ready within a year andwe expect to achieve financial clo-sure shortly thereafter and completethe projects simultaneously by 2010.

“The project envisages modern-ising the existing harbour to a mid-size port to handle bulk cargo, coal,granite, cement and agri-products.The port will also serve as a base forbringing in imported coal for thepower plant. Our studies show thereis a huge potential for such a port asit is centrally located.”

A separate jv company will beformed for the project. Incap’s eq-uity will come mainly in the form ofland for the port complex and SEZ.

Skodaexport deal

months of this year. Steel output inthe country, the world's largest pro-ducer, reached a record 38.3 mt inApril, up 27.5% from a year ago.

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bmi_sec2.qxd 26/7/06 12:54 pm

BMI May/June 20066

Holland: Port Development

Some years ago, the Dutch govern-ment formulated a policy of promot-ing two “gateways” for Holland – thePort of Rotterdam and Schipol air-port at Amsterdam. However, suchis the pace of growth along the ARArange that the Port of Amsterdamnow considers it also should be partof this policy. It argues that the con-cept of Holland Delta ports, includ-ing Amsterdam, would be bettersuited to cater for future growth.

This is one reason why Amster-dam is pressing the Dutch govern-

ment to authorise the constructionof a second, full-sized sea lockalongside its current main facility atIjmuiden. The new lock is not re-quired short term for capacity con-straints, but with the prospect of in-creasing traffic using the lock, par-ticularly from container vessels, theport would like more flexible lockoperations, similar to the twin mainlocks at Antwerp working on a “onein, one out” basis.

While it would be possible to in-crease allowable ship draughts as the

current sill depth of 13.75m could bedeepened to 15m for a new lock,which is the potential maximumdepth of the ship canal, its main pur-pose would be to reduce the possi-bility of lock congestion and permittwo-way simultaneous traffic forlarge vessels.

The Dutch government haschanged its stance from not being

Amsterdam looks for gateway statusThe “second lock” discussion has

moved forward, but perhaps not yetfar enough

certain that a new lock was nec-essary, to “at some stage a new lockwill be necessary.” This, the port be-lieves, can be considered a highly posi-tive step, although the governm entadds that it is “not necessary to starttomorrow.”

Depending upon its configurationand timing, a new lock will cost be-tween €300M and €500M, of whichthe regional government has pledged€80M. The port, however, is highlyprofitable, returning €21M profit lastyear to the city on a turnover of €99Mand considers this investment neces-sary. Unlike Rotterdam, it will alsoretain its current municipality-ownedstatus and not become a limited com-pany with the possibility of externalshareholders.

Doorstep customerAmsterdam is unique along the ARArange. While it does not have the di-rect deep water access available to Rot-terdam, all bulkers have to pass amajor iron ore and coal consumer,the Corus steel works located outsidethe sea locks, to access the two mainmineral bulk import terminals of OBAand Rietlanden. In 2005 the port han-dled a total of 19MT of coal (slightlydown on the previous year’s record20.1MT). Some 13MT was handledin the canal terminals and 6MT atIjmuiden.

Additionally some 10.5MT of ironore was discharged, predominately atIjmuiden although 1MT of this passedthrough the locks for transhipment toGermany by barge.

The presence of the steelworksprovides the potential for part loaddischarge using capesize colliersthat, after offloading a specifictonnage, can then proceed throughthe locks to the canal terminalsfor full discharge.

However, this may not always bepossible due to different coal grades.Accordingly, operators such as OBAprovide lightering facilities to raise thebulker’s draught prior to transiting thelocks. The port is to expand the facili-ties used by lighters that operate out-side the canal lock complex atIjmuiden to improve this operation,Other measures, including dredging,will provide larger bulkers with moremanoeuvring space in the Ijmuidenbasin.

Digging deep…In 2004, the Public Works Depart-ment began deepening the North SeaCanal. By the end of 2008, large quan-tities of sludge will have been removedand the entire North Sea Canal willbe navigable for bulkers up to 14.5mdraught. This draught is not yet per-mitted in the canal due to the currentlock sill restriction of 13.75m. Thedredging work will also allow largepost-panamax vessels to pass eachother as the navigation fairway willbe widened, although keeping withinthe current canal banks.

It is not possible to dredge the

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bmi_sec2.qxd 28/7/06 3:03 pm

BMI May/June 2006 7

Holland: Port Development

During the first quarter of 2006 coaland ore throughput dropped 5% and17% respectively. The drop in ironore was attributed partly to the tem-porary shutdown at Germany’sEssent Amercentrale blast furnacefor urgent relining and maintenance,which reduced demand by 500,000t,and partly to another mill drawingdown on its current stock levels.

The main factor, however, was thelow Rhine water levels that reducedbarge transport capacity to Germany,increased stockpiles and resulted insome traffic having to be diverted.

EMO, as the largest bulk termi-nal operator in the port and indeedin northern Europe, provides an ac-curate gauge of Rotterdam’s opera-tions. Last year the terminal handled

19.2MT of coal, down some 3.5%from the 2004 performance, whileiron ore dropped 5% to 14.1MT.

This compares to a total of26.4MT (+4% in 2004) of coal and40.8MT (-3.5% in 2004) of iron orehandled in the port. EMO’s trend ofa fall in coal against rising through-put in the port is attributed to EECV’snew dedicated coal terminal that sup-plies its parent company,ThyssenKrupp, with coking coals.

The operator is looking to in-crease throughput in 2006, although

much will depend on Rhine waterlevels during the third and fourthquarters of the year.

Positive outlookThe most important markets for coalimported via Rotterdam are Germanpower stations, taking 70% of thistraffic; the second most importantmarket is the Netherlands at 20%.

The port regards the first quarter2006 results as a short term blip andimports are projected to increase inthe coming years. At the beginningof 2006, the Warndt/Luisenthal coalmine in Saarland, which output 2MTin 2004, will be closed, marking thefirst in a series of five mine closuresbetween now and 2012. In its prog-nosis for the short/mid term, the Portof Rotterdam Authority expects anaverage growth of coal throughputof 5.6% per year in the period 2005-2009. In 2009, almost 34MT is fore-cast to be handled.

The port feels positive about in-creased coal throughput not onlybecause of German mine closuresand planned new coal-fired powerplants, but also because it is promot-ing itself as an “energy centre.”

It has already planned an LNGimport facility, which will encouragethe development of gas-fired powerstations. It is also keen to offer sitesfor clean coal power plants to utili-ties such as Electrabel, Nuon andRWE. These could be supplied di-rectly by underground conveyorlines from the EMO terminal in asimilar manner to its delivery for theE.on plant on the Maasvlakte.

Not only does this significantlyreduce the delivered costs but it alsoallows the generator to sub-contractits stock management and stockyardenvironmental control to EMO,which can deliver on a just-in-timebasis to the power station’s bunkers.

Low ebbLow water levels on the Rhinecaused problems from October 2005to March 2006 but levels are nowback to normal for the time of year.There is some concern, however, thatlevels may drop off significantly ifEurope experiences a dry summer.

In 2003, the Rhine recorded its

Rotterdam’s tonnage “blip”but growth is still forecast

Coal stockpileBulk density 1.0 t/m3

Angle of repose 36-40 degGrain size: normally 0 – 150 mmGrain size: incidentally 350 mmHumidity 2 – 10%Iron ore stockpileBulk density 2.5 t/m3

Angle of repose: pellets 26 degAngle of repose: fines 38 - 40 degAngle of repose: lumps 40 degGrain size 0 -150 mmHumidity 2 – 10%Olivin stockpileBulk density 1.6 t/m3

Angle of repose 36 degGrain size 0 - 5 mmHumidity 2 -10%Stockpile heightFrom rail 21.8mTotal height 24mMaximum stacking capacityCoal 6000 tph = 6000 m3/hIron ore 6000 tph = 3000 m3/hMaximum reclaiming capacityCoal 4500 tph = 4500 m3/hIron ore 2250 tph = 4500 m3/hTechnical specificationLength bucket wheel boom 60mSlewing speed at bucket whee l5 – 35 m/minAcceleration to max speed 7 secsSlewing range 110 degHoist speed at bucket wheel 3 m/minBucket wheel diameter 9mNumber/capacity buckets 9 x 1600 litresBucket wheel/cutting edge speed: coal 5.33 rpm/2.55 m/secBucket wheel/cutting edge speed: iron ore 2.65 rpm/1.25 m/secBoom conveyor belt speed (1800mm width) 36 m/secBelt troughing 40 degIntermediate conveyor belt speed 36 m/secIntermediate conveyor belt width 1800 mmBelt troughing 40 degConveyor inclination 14 degNumber of wheels/diameter 10 of 630mmMain rail gauge 12mNumber of wheels/diameter 3x30 of 630mmTravel speed 3 – 30 m/secTripper car belt speed/width 36 m/sec – 1800mmTroughing angle 40 degConveyor inclination, max 14 degNumber of wheels/diameter 2 of 630mm

EMO’s new stacker/reclaimer from TKF: main data

Despite increased coal and ore demand in Europe,Rotterdam, its largest port, bucked this trend with lowercoal and ore volumes in the first quarter of this year

canal below 15m draught due to thenumber of road tunnels under thecanal and their clearance proximityto the floor of the canal.

…and furtherIn May, the work of deepening andextending the Ijgeul channel, whichforms the link between the North Seaand the North Sea Canal, was com-pleted. The fairway is now accessi-ble to fully laden bulk carriers witha draught of up to 17.8mto Ijmuiden. The port adds: “and ifneed be, sail all the way to the Portof Amsterdam,” but in fact ships ofthis draught cannot transit the mainsea lock and have to be lightered atIjmuiden.

At the same time as deepening theIjgeul channel, the opportunity hasbeen taken to lengthen the fairwayfrom 23km to 43 km, thus extend-ing the sea buoy and making access

to Ijmuiden and the North Sea canalconsiderably faster and easier.

The deepening and extension ofthe Ijgeul fairway is part of a com-prehensive series of measures aimedat improving the accessibility of theports of Ijmuiden, Beverwijk,Zaanstad and Amsterdam, for whichsome ¤80M has been allocated.

The deepening of the Ijgeul chan-nel has been taking place in phases.The first phase, from 16.5m to 16.8mwas completed in December 2003while the second phase to a depth of17.2m was finalised in January 2005.The third phase started in April 2006and finished the following month.The increased fairway depth repre-sents a strong economic factor be-cause a bulker can load an additional2500t for every 10 cm of extra depth.

New coal terminal?The port is currently in preliminary

negotiations with an operator, be-lieved to be the LBH group, with re-gards to the development of a newcoal terminal in the Afrikahaven.Amsterdam still has a land bankavailable - although it is gettingsmaller - unlike Rotterdam, whichhas to reclaim more space for growthin the form of the Maasvlakte II de-velopment.

Vopak is believed to be consid-ering a liquid bulk transhipmentfacility in the Afrikahaven along-side the 100 hectare site reservedfor bulk terminal operation thatcould be taken by LBH.

This would leave it with a fur-ther 65 hectares for container ter-minal expansion, plus a 145 hec-tare site zoned for storage and lo-gistics. This could also be em-ployed, in part, as a tank farm al-though it does not have directquayside access. ❏

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bmi_sec3.qxd 26/7/06 2:27 pm

BMI May/June 20068

Holland/Belgium: Port Development

lowest levels since 1976 andVeerhaven, the Thyssen-Krupp-owned push barge op-erator, was able to use only40-45% of its capacity as itsbarges could not sail at maxi-mum draught. As a result, ithad to charter in some200,000t of additional capac-ity during the draught- re-stricted period.

There is also a concern thatnot enough dredging is takingplace to maintain depth. Lastyear, dredgers had to bequickly mobilised on the Dan-ube to free several hundredbarges in its upper reacheswhen water levels dropped.The Rhine has yet to face thisextreme action as, on average,it is deeper than the Danube,but there is concern that somelocal maintenance dredgingprogrammes are insufficientlyfunded.

One problem the widebeam push barge convoys faceis that a drop in water levelsreduces the width of the main

navigational channel. Increas-ing traffic on the river, mainlydue to container barge opera-tions, can result in congestionproblems with the samenumber of vessels fighting forspace on a reduced fairwaywidth.

Rail alternativeThe effect of low water lev-els, coupled with an increasein coal demand in Germany in2005, meant that more coalhad to be carried by rail witha total of 1.9MT handled bythis mode. As a result of lowwater levels, rail services werealso used for more iron oremoves. The shuttle servicefrequency to DillingerHuttenwerke was doubled to40 train loads/week.

However, rail servicesare stretched in the Rotter-dam area mainly as a resultof priority passenger andcontainer train traffic. Tocope with this extra de-mand, bulkers were di-

verted to Antwerp, whichcurrently has spare rail ca-

pacity, although new railinfrastrucutre is also re-

quired here to cater for con-tainer traffic growth.

Although the newBetuweroute freight-onlytrack between Rotterdam andthe German rail network hasbeen widely acclaimed as ameans of moving containers,the ore and coal shippers alsowelcome it as it provides analternative to barge in theevent of problems on theRhine. While a full trainloadof around 2700t is only theequivalent of one standard

push barge and so is not asproductive as water-bornemoves, it does reduce the re-liance on the Rhine.

Railion Nederland’s MDCarel Robbeson admits that“on paper, the Dutch railwaynetwork is almost full.” In2004, this lack of capacity ac-tually resulted in a court casewhen, according to Robbeson,Railion had secured a contractto move substantial volumesof coal to Germany. “We werenot given enough room on therailway network and thiscould have resulted in us los-ing that customer,” he said.

Zeeland Ports (ZP) has main-tained its growth trend but re-mains unconvinced that acapesize lock, as wanted byGhent, would benefit it much.

ZP, comprising Terneuzen,on the south bank of the

Scheldt estuary, andVlissingen on the north bank,recorded increased coal ton-nages in 2005, mainly throughOvet, which has operations inboth ports. Total coal through-put at the two ports increased

to 4.05MT and while this isonly marginally over the 2004performance of 3.98MT, itwas better than forecast inlight of a loss of some cargoopportunities.

Throughput at Vlissingenincreased to 2.77MT (2.73MTin 2005) of which imports ac-counted for 2.36MT (2.4MT),while exports, not includinglightering, rose to 414,000t).Terneuzen recorded an over-all throughput of 1.28MT(1.245MT). A drop in importsto 1.11MT from 1.14MT dur-ing 2004 was compensated bya rise in export transhipmentto 167,000t (107,000t).

The coal-fired power sta-tion at Vlissingen, fed directlyfrom the Ovet terminal in theport, closed down for mainte-nance during summer 2005,resulting in a loss of some150,000t. Additionally, theport authority decided that itwould be possible to increasethe maximum draught ofbulkers transiting the locks,mainly to access the Sidmarsteel mills at Ghent, from theprevious 12.25m to 12.50m.

This allows a panamaxbulker to retain around 1500t,thereby lowering lighteragecosts. Ovet considers thissmall, 25cm permissibledraught increase represents aloss of some 200,000 tpa in itsScheldt lightering activities,with iron ore representingsome 75% of the tonnage tran-shipped to barges.

Locked inThis can be factored into itsforecasts. What would have asignificant impact on Ovet’sthroughput would be a deepdraught capesize lock beingconstructed alongside the cur-

Maintaining momentum in Zeelandrent access lock for the Ghentcanal at Terneuzen.

The port of Ghent has beenpressing for this developmentfor a number of years. Its busi-ness plans for the extension ofits facilities, with the construc-tion of the massiveKluizendok dock and indus-trial zone, are closely linkedto the construction of a deepdraught access lock.

The facility is currently thelargest port developmentalong the ARA range. It willinitially have a water depth of13.5m to accommodate thecurrent 12.5m lock restric-tions, with the quay walls hav-ing been designed for an 18mwater depth.

This adds significantly toquay wall costs as the wallfoundations must extend toaround -35m below datum; itwill only be viable to dredgeto this depth if a new lock canaccommodate this size of ship.

Steel pressureThe larger sea lock is also ur-gently required for the Sidmarsteelworks on the other bankof the Kluizendok develop-ment if the integrated mill isto maintain its competitive-ness with other coastal millsalong the Dunkirk–Amster-dam range. These, such asCorus at Ijmuiden and Arcelorin Dunkirk, can handlecapesize vessels, whileSidmar, also part of theArcelor group, can only re-ceive panamax bulkers limitedto 12.5m draught.

This puts the mill at a com-petitive disadvantage and at atime of uncertainty within thegroup following its takeoverby Mittal, it remains to be seenhow its longer-term future can

Low water levels on theRhine are of serious concern

Ghent’s views on the need for a capesize lock are not shared

by Zeeland Seaports

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bmi_sec3.qxd 28/7/06 14:26

BMI May/June 2006 9

Holland/Belgium: Port Development

The judge ruled in Railion’s fa-vour but the fact that an operator suchas Railion, which is part of theStinnis group, should have to take onthe state track authorities to go aboutits business, shows how far this sec-tor must go before it can provide thecapacity required by its customers.

At the same time, in Europe’s lib-eralised rail freight market, there isconcern among rail “newcomers”about the extent of Railion’s marketpower and its likely domination ofthe Betuwe paths, due to the highcost/technical “entry level” of thisstate-of-the art rail artery.

There has also been a blazing rowabout the management organisationfor the Betuwe line, although thisnow appears to have been settled tothe satisfaction of all sides.

Modal shiftIn any event, as a result of the in-ability to barge sufficient coal vol-umes to the Ruhr power stations,the German utilities have turned toPoland and the Czech Republic forcoal input at the expense ofcheaper Colombian, Indonesianand Australian coal landed at Rot-terdam. While in theory this couldhave been railed to Germany fromRotterdam, securing additionalslots proved difficult.

This situation will improve sig-nificantly when the Beteuwe freight-only line opens in early January2007. While this 160 km rail line isprincipally directed towards con-tainer moves, the operators are keento fully utilise capacity. There werefears that haulage rates may not becompetitive with barge traffic, butterminal operators such as EMO areconfident it will prove a viable alter-native.

As part of a ¤50M investmentprogramme to boost throughput ca-pacity from 36 mtpa to 42 mtpa andincrease storage by a further 1MT to7MT, EMO is set to open its new railwagon loading station in August2006. This ¤7M facility will doubleEMO’s rail loading rate to 4.5 mtpa

and allow it to load two trains simul-taneously.

Stacking upCentre piece of the investmentproject will be a new stacker/reclaimer. It will join the current fiveunits that, as with the latest machine,have been supplied by Thyssen-Krupp Fördertechnik (TKF).

The latest machine will belarger, with a 60m boom comparedto 45m for the existing machines.With a stacking capacity of 6000tph (coal), it will be among thelargest to be supplied by TKF (seespecification table on page 7). The1410t stacker/reclaimer, fitted with

be protected without better sea ac-cess. It could be argued that in theinevitable restructuring of the group,now the world’s largest steel maker,it would be better to focus northernEuropean steel manufacture at a deepwater coastal site, such as Dunkirk.

Political influenceIt is possible that Mittal Steel, as aNetherlands-based company, may beable to exert some pressure in theconstruction of a new capesize lock,as this development has always beenresisted by the Dutch authorities thatwould be responsible for its opera-tion. When the main sea lock wasfirst constructed, space was reservedfor a second, identically-sized lockto be built adjacent to it.

The first lock is now handlingsome 30,000 transits/year and isreaching its capacity. It is generallyagreed that a second lock is required,particularly if Ghent progresses witha container terminal developmentand the planned industrial/petro-chemical activities at theKluizendok.

Whether this will be panamax orcapesize will depend on the Belgiangovernment’s willingness to investin an essentially Dutch project, al-beit one that would benefit the Bel-gian economy.

It also remains to be seen whetherArcelor Mittal Steel can influencethe Dutch authorities to safeguard theprospects of a steel mill employingsome 5500 Belgians. ❏

a 270 t counterweight, is scheduledfor commissioning in August 2007with manufacturing and fabrica-tion to be mainly undertaken inGermany. Large components willbe pre-erected at fabrication siteson the Baltic and then shipped toRotterdam by barge for final as-sembly.

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bmi_sec3.qxd 26/7/06 2:28 pm

BMI May/June 200610

Cargo Handling

The traditional view ofpneumatic shipunloaders is that they

suffer from two major draw-backs: they are expensive tooperate because of their highenergy consumption and theycan cause physical damage tothe products being unloadedcompared to grab handling,for example. However, me-chanical continuous unloaders,such as the Siwertell design,can also cause product degra-dation.

This latter characteristicobviously does not affectpowders but can be a problemwith prilled products and withcertain friable agribulks suchas rice and malt.

However, within the pastfew years technical advanceshave gone a long way towardseliminating these two negativefeatures. For example, fanless

Although most pneumatic ship unloaders have recently becomemore energy efficient, they still consume significantly more powerthan mechanical versions. However, this is just one item in the totalcost equation and their superior environmental credentials canjustify their selection in the longer term

Pneumatic unloaders fight off rising energy costs

technology pioneered in thelate1990s by companies suchas Christianson Systems of the

USA, allows for greater pre-cision of adjustment betweenair volume and suction level.

Here the positive displace-ment Roots-type blower, asemployed by the Belgiancompany Vigan Engineering,is capable of providing a rela-tively constant volume of airat any given rotational speed.By changing the speed of theprime move, the air volumechanges directly in a linearrelationship. This allows thetwo variables of air volumeand suction level to be accu-rately adjusted to suit the

physical characteristics of thecargo being discharged.

This design also providesthe added bonus of less energyconsumption per tonne ofmaterial unloaded.

Fuelling the argumentAgainst a background of ris-ing and sustained fuel costs,energy efficiency is becomingfar more crucial. Roughlyspeaking, a pneumatic shipunloader handling wheat witha density of 0.75 kg/m3 re-quires 0.6kW-1kW per tonnehandled while for a continu-

ous mechanical system, asopposed to a grab unloader,energy consumption is be-tween 0.3 to 0.5kW/t.

While this at first sight mayprovide a significant advan-tage to mechanical systems,Vigan argues the overall costof the operation should betaken into account. Based onan energy cost of US$0.10/kW, Vigan considers that apneumatic 300t/h capacityoperating at 80% efficiencyand in the top end consump-tion of 1kW/t would generatean electricity bill ofUS$50,000 when handling500,000tpa.

A similar size mechanicalunloader would, at 75% effi-ciency and a 0.53kW/h powerconsumption, costUS$26,500/yr to drive it.

The slightly lower effi-ciency of the mechanical sys-tem, which gives this exam-ple a nominal capacity of225t/h compared to 240t/h,provides the pneumatic sys-tem, claims Vigan, with a su-perior overall economic ad-vantage when taken over ayear’s operation due to thelonger stay of the ship and theassociated costs.

Taking a 500,000tpathroughput, Vigan estimatesthat, based on a “tie-up” costof US600/hr, the total bill fac-ing the mechanical unloaderoperator would be US$1.33Mcompared to US$1.25M forthe pneumatic system. Thecompany claims that the pneu-matic discharger would costaround US$60,000 less annu-ally over its mechanical coun-terpart even when taking intoaccount the extra energy costs.

There are also other factorsthat tip the balance towardspneumatic systems. Lowerweight, by virtue of not requir-ing a counterweight for themarine arm, for the mechani-cal design, is cited as it canlead to lower quay construc-tion costs. However, the de-velopment of small road-go-ing mechanical designs hasreduced this argument in thelower throughput sector.

A more significant advan-tage is claimed in the abilityof the pneumatic system toprovide a clean and “seam-less” delivery to the commod-ity as it is supported within anair envelope. Thus there are nocrannies where product con-tamination can build up, un-

like a mechanical systemwhich must be washedthrough when changing com-modity types.

This factor is becomingespecially relevant with thedemand for product tracingand concerns over cross-overbetween GM and non-GMagri-bulks.

No overlapEssentially the pneumatic shipunloading market is split intotwo main sectors with littlemanufacturing overlap as theproducers tend to focus on onemarket area – either cementhandling or agri-bulk and gen-eral bulk, such as fertilisersand alumina, discharge. Thisis mainly due to the more spe-cialised nature of cement han-dling and the fluid nature ofcement powder that require adifferent approach to agri-bulks.

Buhler, for instance, has anextensive range of both pneu-matic and mechanicalunloaders, with its Portanovapneumatic systems encom-passing a range from 200t/h to600t/h plus a mobile designcapable of a discharge rate ofup to 200 t/h.

The Swiss group’sPortalino mechanical systemscover a capacity range from200t/h to 1440t/h but none ofthese units is intended specifi-cally for cement handling andit is one of the few areas ofbulk ship handling and stor-age expertise that Buhler is notactively engaged in.

BMH Marine, recentlysold to the Cargotec group(see p1 of this issue) whichmanufactures a range of pneu-matic unloaders to comple-ment its established mechani-cal screw designs under itsSiwertell brand, also manu-factures pneumatic handlingand unloading systems underthe Nordstrom’s brand.

These designs are almostexclusively aimed at cementhandling and while Siwertellalso undertakes the handlingrole, it does so with its me-chanical screw type systems.The Swedish company, forinstance, recently delivered a300 t/h road mobile 5000Sunloader to Cimento Sanayive Ticaret of Mersin, Turkey,based on its mechanical screwdesign. A similar machine, butnot road going and insteadpedestal mounted, has also

Interest in burning a biomass

mix in coal-fired power

stations could provide newopportunities for pneumatic

unloaders, says Neuero

The three 400t/h capacity unloaders delivered by ViganEngineering to the Port of Zhanjiang, China, mainly for handling

soya have replaced locally manufactured units to cope with

a surge of inports to around 2.5mtpa

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2

3

4

5

1. Cemstar and Cemsea, conversion into self-unloading cement carrier for Brise Schiffahrts GmbH, Germany. Up, up and away: Thepictures 2. 3. 4. and 5. show the history of a port mobile unloader for Continental Florida Materials, Port Canaveral, USA: High-capa-city ship unloader designed for ship sizes up to 40,000 dwt and a unloading capacity of 800 t/h including a pneumatic downstream system.

1

I BAU‘s advancedcement handling.

bmi_sec3.qxd 26/7/06 2:29 pm

BMI May/June 2006 11

Cargo Handling

been ordered by Cementhai Logis-tics of Bangkok, also for cement dis-charge.

Nordstroms meanwhile securedthe order for a cement handling sys-tem for four sets of pneumatic han-dling systems for ship-based opera-tions. One of the special features ofthis specifically engineered design,based on standard Nordstroms com-ponents, is the provision of a dusthandling system which cleans thedust laden air, generated when vent-ing the bulk cement tanks during fill-ing and vacuum cleaning, with acompressed air-powered ejector.

The de-dusting system returns theseparated cement dust back to a bulktank through a pneumatic conveyorand thus eliminates the usual prac-tice of releasing the dust along withthe bilge water into the sea.

Food for thoughtIn the agri-bulk sector, Vigan is cur-rently supplying two NIV 300 pneu-matic ship unloaders that are beinginstalled at a new grain and fertiliserterminal in Djibouti. The contractwas placed by SDTV (CompagnieDjiboutienne de Gestion du Termi-nal Vraquier) at the end of 2005. Thefacility, which is scheduled to befully operational by mid-2007, is ex-pected initially to handle about amillion tonnes annually of cargo,mostly corn, wheat, DAP and urea,some of which will be transhippedto nearby Eritrea and Somalia.

The fertiliser products will be dis-charged by a grab crane, while thetwo NIV 300s offering a combinedcapacity of 600t/h will be dedicatedto grain unloading. These are self-propelled designs powered by dieselgenset and are configured to serviceships of 30-40,000dwt.The machineswill be equipped with fully automaticcontrols to minimise energy con-sumption and special wear-resistantalloys will be employed within thedischarge pipeline system.

The discharged cargo will betransferred by belt conveyor to anadjacent warehouse equipped with12 bagging lines, six for grains andsix for fertiliser materials. Standalone power supply for the wholeterminal will be provided by dieselgenerator sets with a total capacityof 1700KVA to be independent of theunreliable local grid.

A control room with synopticpanel combined with state-of-the-artcomputer systems ensure completesupervision of all unloading, convey-ing, storage, bagging and loadoutoperations. Phase one of the projectfor grain handling is scheduled to becommissioned at the end of 2006.

Zhanjiang jobIn mid-2005 Vigan successfullycommissioned three pneumaticunloaders that it had supplied to thePort of Zhanjiang, China. Each ofthese rail-mounted units is equippedwith electrical and control cable reelsand has a nominal discharge capac-ity of 400t/h. In each case the 28msuction boom has a three-part tel-escopic horizontal pipe to allow suf-ficient versatility to cover a widerange of ships to be discharged.

The machines feature latest tech-nical developments including speedvariators for precise control of en-ergy consumption and anti-abrasionprotection to prolong service life ofcomponent parts subject to wear,notably at the elbow between thevertical and horizontal suction pipes.

These three Vigan machines re-place locally manufactured pneu-matic unloaders which were unableto cope with increasing tonnage ofoilseeds (mainly soya beans) im-

ported through Zhanjiang, with vol-umes soon expected to increase to2.5mt/yr from the current annual onemillion tonne level.

Pneumatic upgradeAs part of the recent upgrade com-pleted last year of the Silo P Krusegrain terminal in the Port of Ham-burg, Buhler of Switzerland installeda new stationary 250t/h pneumaticunloading system. At the same timeit refurbished the existing dual-line600t/h capacity pneumatic unloader,converting it to a combined unloader/loader. The latter function is carriedout mechanically in the conventionalmanner and Buhler can also offer this

additional capability for its mechani-cal ship unloaders.

Buhler reports that two Portanova

3000/60R machines will soon be in-stalled in a new grain terminal inSri Lanka, as part of a project for

which it is supplying all the electro-mechanical equipment for a newflour mill, with start-up of commer-cial operations envisaged for mid-2007. The Portanovas are designedto work vessels up to 75,000 dwt andat a nominal rate of 310t/h each (620tper ship hour).

The company also reports the re-cent installation of a Portanova 400and a Portalink 800 (mechanical shipunloader) ordered in 2004 byBelmont Agricorp Co, for NationGranary, Inc in the Philippines.

These machines are installed ona pier some 1000m offshore, southof Luzon. Due to the complex logis-tics, the ship unloaders were manu-

Installation of a Buhler Portanova (right) and Portalink completed on a

pier 1000m offshore from Luzon, the Philippines. The boom of the Portanova

is shown lowered for inspection

bmi_sec3.qxd 28/7/06 14:33

BMI May/June 200612

Cargo Handling

factured in Turkey, pre-assem-bled and shipped via Suez andthe Indian Ocean to TayabasBay. On site, the shipcrewsmoothly and accuratelyinched the individual partsweighing up to 155t intoplace. The whole unloading,assembly and installation pro-cedure lasted only seven days.

BMH Marine of Sweden,which developed its firstSiwertell screw-type me-chanical ship unloaders in1974, extended its portfolio in2001 with the addition ofPortMaster pneumaticunloader designs that are spe-cifically intended to dischargegrain and other agribulks.

In November the Swedishmanufacturer won an order tosupply a PortMaster toGigante NV of Curacao, Neth-erlands Antilles, for handlinggrain and soya beans. Themachine, which has a capac-ity of 250t/h for grain, will becapable of accommodatingvessels up to 45,000dwt. In-

stallation work began in May2006.

Abrasive ordersHartmann Förderanlagen ofGermany reports that it is cur-rently delivering a 300t/h ca-pacity pneumatic unloader toFjärdaal in Iceland for han-dling alumina. This large ma-chine, with a total weight of620t, is being assembled atthe German port of Wilhelms-hafen and is scheduled to betransported by heavy-lift ves-sel to its final destination at theend of June 2006.

Another German manufac-turer Neuero, although tradi-tionally associated with pneu-matic unloaders for agri-bulks, has recently won an or-der to supply two Multiportmachines each of 300t/h ca-pacity to the Port of Qingdao,China. These will likewisedischarge alumina.

This commodity is notori-ously abrasive and basalt anti-wear linings will be fitted in

an effort to prolong the serv-ice life of vulnerable compo-nents, although even themanufacturer concedes thatthis will only provide a par-tial solution since wear dam-age will inevitably be severeand there will still be a re-quirement for frequent re-placement or wear parts.

Nevertheless, it was con-sidered that the inherent envi-ronmental advantages of mini-mal dust pollution and nospillage more than compen-sated for the higher costs ofenergy consumption and re-placement parts than usingconventional grab cranes.

In Brazil Maquinas Con-

dor, Neuero’s partner for theSouth American market, hasrecently commissioned a 300t/h capacity pneumatic unloaderat the Port of Santos. The rail-mounted machine is operatedby Fertimport, part of Bungegroup, and discharges wheatfor an adjacent flour mill.

The unloader, a replace-

ment for grab cranes whichcould not provide sufficientdischarge capacity while alsogenerating an unacceptablelevel of dust pollution, hasbeen equipped with a 6t ca-pacity auxiliary hoist to allowpayloaders to be placed in thevessel’s hold to assist withclean-up operations. ❏

With copper prices reachingrecord highs of overUS$8000/t, heavy plant op-erators are looking more torepair failed power feed cablesthan to replace them, whilemanufacturers are developingnew long life and highly re-sistant designs

While high and sustainedcopper prices are a cause ofconcern to cable manufactur-ers, all competitors now facethe same scenario, including

Looking to increase cable lifethe larger manufacturers whohad forward hedged prices butnow find this option is nolonger viable.

As such, the manufacturershave no option but to pass theincreased cost of new powercables to users. An increase inthe cost of the raw materialrubber is also a current factorto be considered.

Nexans, as one of the lead-ing cable manufacturers, proc-esses some 50t of copper an

hour at its 15 cable plants.Copper prices increased 50%last year, with their continuedrise being caused by supplyworries and the strength ofChinese demand.

It is possible in certain cir-cumstances to replace copperwith cheaper aluminium wire,but this latter metal is far morebrittle than copper and lacksits flexibility.

Accordingly, aluminiumcan only be employed for hardwired applications with large,or preferably non-existent,bending radii. It cannot beused for reeling applications,such as for a stacker/reclaimeror grab unloaders.

Damage potentialWhile accidental mechanicaldamage can be avoided inmost cases through bettertraining and safer workingpractices, for a large scale bulkhandling operation some dam-age is almost inevitable, suchas crushing damage caused byheavy plant crossing over thetrailing cable, acceleratedouter sheath wear due to abra-sive site conditions, heat dam-age, particularly in coal stock-yards, or over-tension due tofailure of the reel.

Careful plant and equip-ment design can reduce dam-age potential, such as placingthe cable feed for a railmounted stacker/reclaimer inan elevated tray alongside themain conveyor line.

While in theory a cablefeed to a reel should remainstatic as the purpose of the reelis to pay out or take up slackas the machine moves alongthe rails, in practice theretends to be some movementbetween the cable and theground which can cause abra-sive wear.

If a tray is employed, itmust be checked and cleanedout at regular intervals to pre-vent a build up of dust andspillage, which can bury thecable and result in potentialover-tension. Dust generationalso precludes the use of busbars.

Pesky festoonsFestoon systems on grabunloader cranes are also a po-tential problem source, butthis can be reduced throughthe use of energy chains. EMOin Rotterdam, for instance, hasretrofitted an Igus energychain system on one of its 85tcapacity unloaders to powerthe motor trolley in place ofthe original festoon system.

The trolley reaches a maxi-mum speed of 240m/min overa total travel distance of105.2m and as the cablesweigh some 48.5 kg/m, giv-

ing a total cable weight of over5t, it has been necessary to fittwo HD E/4 heavy duty en-ergy chains incorporating re-inforced guide troughs.

Two waysEssentially there are two waysof repairing a sheared cable;en situ, or to remove the com-plete link to be sent to a spe-cialised workshop while a re-placement cable is employedin its place. The repaired ca-ble can later be returned andused as a spare or refitted.

Repairing the cable inplace offers a better solutionfor hard wired static cable asthe splicing is relativelystraightforward; if the break isrelatively clean, a junctionbox can be employed.

For reeled cables, replace-ment will provide a fast solu-tion if a spare length is eithercarried in stock or is readilyavailable. However, as cableprices increase this can be anexpensive option, although itcan be cheaper when takinginto account the downtimecost of the machine.

Experience countsRepairing the damaged cablewill reduce this cost but theincreasing sophistication ofcombined power and data ca-bles requires highly experi-enced companies to undertakethe operation.

Cable manufacture is ahighly automated process that,when set up manually for aproduction run of a particularcable design, will operate con-tinuously until stopped withminimum manual overseeing.Cable repair, however, is la-bour-intensive and requires anexperienced workforce.

As such, these companieshave tended to grow in theimmediate location where de-mand is greatest, although asthe market grows and in somecases, the local demand de-creases, these operators needto look further afield.

Becker & Heuser, for in-stance, originally started elec-trical cable repair operationsto service the Rhur’s miningand steelmaking activities andwhile the steel mills are stillactive, coal mining is beingphased out. As a result it isentering into other sectors,such as the ports and generalbulk handling areas where itsexpertise especially in the ex-ceptionally demanding min-ing sector, can be employed.

One area where the com-pany has gained specific ex-perience is the repair of trail-ing cables employed in opencast mining applications.These are particularly vulner-able to abrasion and damage

bmi_sec3.qxd 26/7/06 2:30 pm


Cargo Handling

from tracked vehicles and can be al-most shredded in severe cases.

Becker & Heuser maintains thateven undertaking a major repair onthis type of damage, which can take20 hrs or more to perform, is a morecost-effective solution than scrap-ping the complete cable. If the op-erator does not want to exercise thisoption, the usual method of recyclingthe cable is to cut out the damagedsection and return the two lengths tothe store for future use on shorter runapplications, although obviouslythere are only a number of times thiscan be done.

Staying aheadIncreasing demands on cable per-formance to carry greater power in-tegrated with f/o or copper wire highspeed data transfer is also focusingmanufacturers’ attention on not onlymeeting these next generation re-quirements, but also in developingreliable, lower maintenance designs.

European and US manufacturersare aware of the threat from Chinesecompetition. Although labour costsdo not feature significantly in high-volume cable manufacturing, Chi-nese suppliers are able to come upwith cost-effective cable designs andthe European producers consider thatto compete, they must be able to de-liver sophisticated solutions that of-fer enhanced reliability.

One problem the cable manufac-turing industry faces is that it is nota question of “one size fits all” aswas traditionally the case. Even en-ergy cables may require a differentdesign approach depending on theirintended use. An overhead powergrid cable has different operationalparameters to a trailing power cable,even though they both essentiallyundertake the same function.

However, that is not to say thatsome features developed in the de-sign and manufacture of one type ofcable cannot be employed in anotherapplication. Nexans, for example,has developed a new system of ca-ble winding for overhead powertransmission lines. The improveddamping characteristics of the newline mean that is able to withstandwind-induced vibration. This is un-like conventional twisted conductorswhich are prone to instability due tovibration caused by the movement inthe long spans, even in light winds.

This “Z” section wire lay is em-ployed for optical terrestrial cablesand will soon be available in a highconductivity design. It could also beemployed for other applications sub-ject to vibrations, such as festooncables.

Testing timesNexans is investing significantly inadvanced R&D not just for new ca-ble designs but also to extend the lifeof existing designs through extensivetesting. In 2005, the company in-vested ¤54M in R&D for its NexansResearch Centres (NRC), based atLyon and Nuremberg, and which to-gether employ a staff of 450 re-searchers, engineers and technicians,including 70 scientists.

Cable technology is now a de-manding science which involvessuch diverse disciplines as thechemical structure of the outersheathing, mechanical performanceof the individual components, com-plete cable integrity, the rheologicalproperties of the conductors, innersheathing durability and the abilityto screen data transmission.

In addition to scientific research,the NRC also undertakes long-termtesting to mimic and surpass opera-tional use. To simulate the stresses

experienced by cable during reelingoperations, two full-size variablespeed mono-spiral reels have beenmounted alongside each other to al-low the cable to be alternativelywound and unwound at speeds of upto 150m/min.

Stress inducingStress measures can be made at dif-ferent speeds, winding diameters,acceleration and pulling traction toa maximum force of 7000N, to de-termine the long-term effect on newcable designs and to determine howthey would perform in actual use.

Similarly, a reverse bending ma-chine is employed to simulate the

repeated bending of a cable at vari-ous programmable bending anglesand pulling strength to the limits ofthe cable design.

A roller bending machine placesthe cable under tension by bendingit around a series of moving pulleysover a high number of cycles to de-termine the limits of the electricalintegrity of the design.

A bending machine is employedfor maximum and destructive testingto measure the force necessary tobend a cable and thereby determinea quantitative flexibility value. ❏

Nexans: cable stiffness test (Lyons’research centre)

ABB Crane SystemsSE-72159 Vasteras SwedenPhone: +46 21 34 00 00Fax: +46 21 02 90E-mail: [email protected]: www.abb.com/cranes© Copyright 2006 ABB

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bmi_sec3.qxd 28/7/06 15:19

BMI May/June 200614

Cargo Handling

The use of flexible intermedi-ate bulk containers (FIBCs)continues to expand at a phe-nomenal rate. In the late 1970sthey first started to receivewidespread recognition as ahighly efficient and cost-ef-fective method of transporting500-1500kg unit loads ofpowders and granulates, andnow it is estimated that wellin excess of 150M of thesebulk bags will be sold just inEurope alone this year.

As for worldwide sales, thefigure is probably at least threetimes this amount but is al-most impossible to verify ow-ing to the huge quantities ofbags manufactured in Chinaand India for regional use.

During the past three dec-

ades the industry has wit-nessed massive changes. Pio-neering development workinitially began in Western Eu-rope, closely followed byNorth America and these twogeographical regions main-tained a commanding leadthroughout the 1980s.

However, by the beginningof the next decade other coun-tries, such as Turkey, India andthose from Eastern Europewere starting to take advan-tage of significantly cheaperlocal labour costs to enter this

market, which was considereda “spin-off” from more tradi-tional clothing manufacture.This allowed these countriesto produce basic FIBCs ofcomparable quality to those oftheir Western European andNorth American competitorsthat were cheaper by a mar-gin of 20% or more.

Not surprisingly, large-vol-ume users tended to switchtheir allegiance to emergingproducers from cheap-labourcountries. The only way mostof the old-guard producers

managed to survive was eitherby setting up factories them-selves in developing countriesor by entering into allianceswith the new producers.

For example, in the early1990s, many West EuropeanFIBC manufacturers adopteda policy of producing only acomparatively small numberof high-grade bags for thefood, pharmaceutical and finechemical industries or thosewith value-added featuressuch as in-built static electric-ity protection or form-stable

design, while sourcing most oftheir standard production fromcountries with lower costs.

At the same time similarsteps were being taken inNorth America, with virtuallyall US volume producers re-locating production to Mexicoand/or importing bags fromTurkey or India.

Turkish delightTurkey in particular enjoyedhuge expansion in FIBCmanufacture throughout the1990s and into the first two orthree years of the new millen-nium. In so doing it virtuallywiped out large-volume FIBCproduction in west Europeancountries such as the UK,France, Germany and TheNetherlands.

Its tradition of weavingmeant that it could adapt eas-ily to the complexities ofFIBC manufacture. HavingWest Europe, its main exportmarket, on its doorstep wasanother major advantage.

India, at that time the otherimportant new FIBC produc-ing country, was geographi-cally far removed from itsmain export markets of Eu-rope and North America. Thismeant that Indian producerswere frequently unable to re-act quickly enough to theneeds of customers placingshort-term orders, and the factthat many of their factories arelocated well inland from themain Indian sea ports coulddelay delivery deadlines.

At that time, quality of thebags was not always consist-ent and the country acquireda reputation for making cheapbags, well suited for carryinglow-value materials such assand and gravel but less so forfoodstuffs and fine chemicals.Even today the country re-mains slightly tarnished by itsreputation for being primarilya producer of cheap “build-ers’” bags.

This is somewhat unfair asits leading producers nowa-days rank among the best inthe world in terms of quality.Earlier this year Flexituff, oneof its main manufacturers, in-augurated the world’s largestclean-room FIBC productionfacility, operating under rigor-ous hygiene standards ap-proved by AIB (American In-stitute of Baking).

Two worldsUp until about ten years agoglobal FIBC producers di-vided roughly into two cat-

egories: the original pioneer-ing manufacturers based inEurope and North Americawhich had acquired a reputa-tion for making high-gradebags, many incorporating in-novative features, and the restof the world which was basi-cally copying the West whileproducing bags of slightly in-ferior quality but which weresignificantly cheaper.

Out of the loopA notable exception was Ja-pan, which remained isolatedfrom the rest of the world pro-ducing bags mainly for do-mestic use of high quality butof radically different designs.

During the past decade ormore this distinction, at bestvery approximate, has becomeeven more blurred; westernmanufacturers have gone intosteeper decline while theireastern competitors graduallyimproved their quality of pro-duction, while at the sametime acquiring expertise inspecialist designs includingform-stable, sift-proof andstatic-protected, i.e. static-conductive and well as static-dissipative, bag types.

Turkey originally capturedmarket share by being able tooffer for lower cost bags ofcomparable quality to thosemade in the west and is nowin turn being severelysqueezed by countries such asIndia and China. These twocountries are able in many in-stances to offer bags of thesame quality but which furtherundercut Turkish prices by atleast 20%, even allowing forextra delivery costs resultingfrom the remote location ofthese two countries.

In earlier times it was gen-erally reckoned that a com-pany starting up in FIBCmanufacture would require atleast five years to learn thenecessary expertise and sortout teething problems, beforebeing able to attain large-vol-ume production with consist-ent quality. Today this learn-ing curve has been signifi-cantly shortened and manystart-ups, notably in China, arefrom the outset installingstate-of-the-art looms, tapelines and lamination extrudersas well as cutting, sewing,webbing machines, etc.

This results in high-qualityoutput right from the start.

Chinese invasionChina in particular has seen ameteoric rise to FIBC manu-facturing pre-eminence in avery short period of time.

Further expansion in FIBCmarket with no end in sight

The industry has undergone seismic upheaval in recent years withproduction increasingly relocating to cheap-labour countries, whilesales of FIBCs continue to show a relentless upward progression

The Looplifter is designed to

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next bag stacked on top of it.

The Tellap pallet-less FIBC

incorporates two parallel

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its base to allow easy FLTentry and eliminate the need

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This comprehensive 245 page study is an in-depth analysis of capacity constraints, productivity, selectivity and flexibility of different container handling systems in terminals of different types and sizes: common-users or dedicated; hub centre (transshipment and/or relay) or import/export vocation; gateway or feeder port;intermodal rail or truck distribution inland; with or without CFS, etc. Profusely illustrated with charts,figures and explanatory tables. Effects of different call patterns of containerships and dwell day regimes.Predictive power provided through development of queuing theories. Hundreds of detailed equations.

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“Container TerminalPlanning - A TheoreticalApproach”A major study by Dr Itsuro Watanabe (Container System Technology)

bmi_sec3.qxd 28/7/06 14:55


Cargo Handling

While several leading Chinese pro-ducers have been around since the1980s or earlier, most have arrivedon the scene within the past six orseven years. There are believed to bemore than 100 Chinese FIBC export-ers, many of which have attainedworld class status. This compareswith fewer than 20 of comparablequality in India, a similar number inSEA countries, fewer than ten in Tur-key, a similar number throughout thewhole of Europe, fewer than five inthe Middle East and Africa, and noneany more in the US.

Better than anything?To put matters in perspective, it hasbeen said that the best FIBCs cur-rently coming out of China are ofbetter quality than anything beingproduced in Europe, itself long re-garded as a world leader in FIBCtechnology and manufacturing ex-cellence. Furthermore, the averageFIBC originating from China is alsobelieved to be of superior quality tothe European average.

On the other hand, it is believedthat many Chinese made bags useddomestically are of lower quality andare not submitted to internationallyaccepted testing procedures.

It has been suggested that one rea-son why most Chinese FIBCs des-tined for export markets are of suchhigh quality is that they are if any-thing slightly over-engineered. Inother words, they not only meet therequired 6:1 safety factor for single-trip bags, or 8:1 for reusable designs,but do so comfortably. Most Euro-pean manufacturers by contrast, hav-ing been at the game much longer,have learnt how to meet these samestandards while using the minimumof raw materials necessary.

It could therefore be argued thatleading European manufacturers aredemonstrating more refined skills inFIBC production than their Chinesecounterparts, although the end resultis an entirely safe but neverthelessslightly inferior quality bag.

Price squeezeAs a result of the huge output ofFIBCs from cheap-labour countries,their retail price has in real termscontinued to go down in recent years,so much so that a good-quality four-loop bag sells for about half the pricethat it would have commanded 15-20 years ago. At the same time rawmaterial costs, like those of all pet-rochemical-based products, havecontinued to escalate.

Consequently margins have beenseverely squeezed and in recent yearsseveral leading FIBC manufacturershave either gone out of business ordiversified into more lucrative areasof industrial packaging.

Those manufacturers which arecurrently managing to trade profit-ably, albeit to a lesser degree than tenor more years ago, divide into twocamps: those which have invested inhigh levels of automation and areable to produce at least two millionbags annually from a single plant,and those at the other end of the scalewhich may only make several hun-dred thousand high-quality bagswhich serve niche markets.

Survival tacticsThe former is able to survive on evena tiny margin of profit thanks to thesheer volume of bags being pro-duced, while the latter can cater forspecialist demand and smaller or-ders, thereby generally achieving abetter profit margin. However, as thelarge manufacturers become moreversatile and willing to meet the in-dividual requirements of even their

smallest customers, the future for thesmall specialist manufacturer is be-coming increasingly bleak.

End of the road?Has the FIBC concept reached theend of the road in terms of technicaldevelopment? There have been fewmajor innovations in recent years andlatest progress, such as there hasbeen, has tended to take the form offurther refinement to concepts intro-duced at least 10 or 15 years ago. Thestrength of fabrics, threads andwebbings has continued to improvein terms of service life, resistance toUV degradation and ability to with-stand shock loadings. This is a ma-

jor achievement, especially as use ofnon-recyclable component materialsis increasingly being outlawed.

During the past few years,progress has been in opening up theFIBC concept to new markets whichwere previously considered unsuit-able for this mode of semi-bulk trans-port packaging. For example, thanksto new clean-room manufacturingtechniques where bags are producedunder virtually aseptic conditions, ithas been possible to extend their useinto many more areas of food andpharmaceutical production.

These developments have oftengone hand in hand with latest ad-vances in FIBC filling and discharge

technology. Hecht Anlagenbau ofGermany has within the past 18months perfected a patented highcontainment system that allowsFIBCs to be filled or discharged upto a workplace boundary of less than100 mg/m3. This means that virtu-ally total containment can beachieved, an important considerationwhen the operator needs to be pro-tected from toxic powders or potentactive pharmaceutical ingredients.

Furthermore, there is minimal riskof the product, whether a pharmaceu-tical or a food ingredient, being con-taminated by foreign substances. Asa result of this development, FIBCsare nowadays increasingly being

used for this type of application, inpreference to less cost-effective rigidcontainers equipped with dust-tightdocking systems.

Another area where hygiene de-mands are dictating FIBC usage isin the field of pallets. These dispos-able support structures, traditionallyof wood but nowadays increasinglyfabricated from more hygienic plas-tic, have for a long time been widelyregarded as alien to the basic FIBCconcept of a self-contained semi-bulk transport package which can betop-lifted by means of integral lift-ing loops and does not require anyauxiliary support or lifting means.

Nevertheless, pallets continue to

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Experience the progress.

bmi_sec2.qxd 26/7/06 12:54 pm

BMI May/June 200616

Cargo Handling

be widely used with FIBCs, as ameans of keeping filled bags raisedabove a dirty or wet warehouse floorsurface, to provide enhanced stabil-ity when filled bags are stacked inrows two or more high, and to fa-cilitate lifting by forklift. Althoughthis may appear perverse, lift truckdrivers often find it easier to lift abag from below by inserting the tinesbeneath a pallet rather than relyingon the services of a second person tothread the bag loops onto the bladesto allow for top lifting, for which allFIBCs are designed.

Apart from these perceived ad-vantages, pallets have several draw-backs including wasted space, un-

necessary extra deadweight, addi-tional costs of purchase, return trans-port and disposal, and the risk of har-bouring microbial contamination.

Sewn-in valueTwo recent developments are likelyto convert FIBC users away frompallets, especially in food and phar-maceutical applications.

The first of these is the pallet-lessFIBC introduced by Tellap of Aus-tralia. Here a pallet structure is sewninto the base of the FIBC formingan integral part of the bag. This af-

fords greater stability allowing thefilled Tellap bags to be safely storedup to 4-high thanks to the inherentstability of the base structure. Com-pared with a conventional bag-plus-pallet arrangement, there is a majorweight saving with the pallet-lessbag of just 4kg as opposed to 37kg.

Pest controlTellap’s pallet-less FIBCs complywith the new ISPM-15 regulationswhich are expected to be fully en-forced in the USA by mid-2006.These regulations, which apply to allsoft and hardwood packaging mate-rials, stipulate mandatory treatmentof solid timber packing to reduce the

risk of pest or disease entry into theUSA. No heat treatment or fumiga-tion is necessary with the Tellap sys-tem which employs two light plasticsleeves in place of a pallet structure.

The second development has seenfurther refinement of the Looplifterconcept, a device offering importantsafety features combined with en-hanced operational efficiency. It al-lows four-loop FIBCs to be pickedup by the FLT without need for a sec-ond person to position the bag.

Apart from economic benefits inmanpower savings, it more impor-tantly removes the need for a personto climb across the top of the bagstack to feed the loops manually ontothe forklift blades. When a stack isthree or more bags high, any fallfrom this height can result in seriousinjury or even fatality.

Stable baseAnother advantage of the Looplifteris that when bags are stacked on topof each other, the sprung position-ing device compresses to provide astable base for the bag sitting on topof it. This means that FIBCs cansafely be stacked higher allowingoptimum use to be made of availablewarehouse space. The prototype ver-sion of the Looplifter launched somefour years ago came in the form ofan auxiliary item which was pur-chased separately. Subsequently it issewn into the top of the FIBC by themanufacturer and several leadingbag producers are looking to offerLooplifter versions of their FIBCs.

This novel piece of equipment iscurrently proving very popular withusers and although incorporating itinto the FIBC more or less doublesthe bag price, customers are comingback with repeat orders due to itssafety features and manpower sav-ings. Several major contracts haverecently been won by Looplifter inthe UK and France and the UK-basedcompany is currently seeking licencepartners both elsewhere in Europeand in other parts of the world.

Big box challengeThe global FIBC industry is continu-ing to expand and to break into newmarkets. Although new manufactur-ers are emerging on almost a weeklybasis in China, India and elsewherein SEA, there is little sign of any riskof supply outstripping demand. In-deed, several leading Indian manu-facturers report that their productioncapacity is fully booked at least forthe next three months.

From the manufacturers’ perspec-tive, one small but nonetheless grow-ing cloud on the horizon is the in-creasing popularity for moving largevolumes of powders and granularmaterials in lined freight containersrather than in FIBCs.

But for them to prove more cost-efficient than FIBCs requires a suf-ficiently large tonnage of materialmoved on a regular basis to warrantinvestment by both sender and re-ceiver in specialist loading and dis-charge systems. Moving material inFIBCs by contrast is far more flex-ible and the only handling equipmentneeded is an FLT.

Meanwhile FIBC suppliers arecontinuing to win business from cus-tomers who previously employedsacks. As long as this process con-tinues at a higher level of activitythan loss of business to suppliers ofdry bulk container liners, the FIBCsector will prosper. In any event, anincreasing number of FIBC manu-facturers are starting to hedge theirbets by adding woven polypropylenecontainer liners to their range of in-dustrial packaging. ❏

As Tellap bulk bags do not require

pallets there is ample headroominside a freight container to stack

them 3-high.The conventional

pallets on the left have to be lifted

through the top loops and cantherefore stack 2-high

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• Networking receptions

bmi_sec2.qxd 28/7/06 2:56 pm


Cargo Handling

The Nectar Group, the UK-based company that pio-neered the concept of dockside mo-bile bagging equipment over 30years ago, still displays stronggrowth as a market leader. Recog-nising the conflict between theeconomy of bulk sea shipmentagainst the versatility of bag trans-port, particularly for aid relief whereessentials such as grain can beshipped in bulk and then bagged atthe quayside for inland distribution,Nectar developed a modular inte-grated bagging and weighing systemwhich can be operated independentlyof shore power.

Sweet stuffNectar owns, operates and managesa fleet of over 100 bagging linesworldwide and tends to operate on ashort-to long-term rental basis ratherthan through outright sales.

Housed inside a 20ft container, itsmobile Compac 140 bagging systemhas a design capacity of 140t/h andis Dutch Weights and Measures-cer-tified to offer an accuracy of ± 0.5%.The bagging lines have recently beenupgraded with advanced electronicweighing systems. It is suitable forbagging free flow bulk commoditiesinto sacks of between 10kg and100kg capacity although a modifiedversion is now also available to ac-commodate bulk bags in the 500-1500kg capacity range.

Compac 140 can be used for op-erations in warehouses, on boardbarges or ships and at the quay. In awarehouse application it can be usedon its own or with a feed conveyorand a small hopper. For quaysides thebagging unit is normally suppliedwith hoppers, grabs, generators andtruck-loading conveyors.

Nectar is also able to design indi-vidual bagging systems for the spe-cific needs of its customers, a recentexample being a system for handlingsugar in Europe with CE-conform-ity and IP55 specification.

Shore-based spin-offAnother leading manufacturer ofdockside bagging systems in this sec-tor, Chronos Richardson, offers itsContainerpak range of self-con-tained, high-speed mobile baggingunits housed in two standard 20ftISO containers. These are based onits core activity of fixed bagging andpalletising systems used in bulk ter-minals and dockside warehouses aswell as for general industrial use.

The choice of equipment supplydepends on a variety of requirementssuch as filling into open-mouth orvalve bags, bag types and sizes, thetype of material being bagged andpacking rates required. The scope ofsupply also extends downstream tohigh-speed automatic palletisers andpallet wrapping systems.

The Chrono-Fill PBS 500 can beused for bags from 5-50 kg with fer-tiliser powders or granules at speedsof up to 700 bags/h. The completesystem includes the weighing/dosingunit, bag placing, bag filling, bagclosing and bag transport modules.

The Chrono-Fill PTS 800 hassimilarities with the PBS 500 in pro-viding a compact bagging systemthat is simple to install. The PTS 800is used for free flowing grains andpulses at capacities up to 800 bags/hand is claimed to be suitable for fill-ing heat-sealed or sewn open-mouthbags. It can be used in combinationwith net or gross weighing systems.

The company’s innovative

Chrono-Fill carousel packing sys-tems provide high-speed automaticpacking of flour products at rates ofup to 1000 bags/h at many docksideflour mills around the world.

The Chrono-Fill range of baggingsystems has been extensively used

Balancing the bagging and weighing industriesGrowing popularity of contract bagging and continuingadvances in form-fill-seal systems are shaping the future ofbag handling, while industrial weighing is becoming inte-grated into computer and internet technology

This open-mouth bagger fromPremier Tech Systems has allowed

Wyoming Sugar to increase output

to 15 bags/min and change from

folded valve bags to sealed bags

to pack cement and gypsum-relatedproducts into open-mouth and valve

• Main products: ship unloaders, ship loaders, Stacker reclaimers.• Customers worldwide, including: United States, Japan, Brazil, Indonesia and

domestic users from North to South China.• For various industries e.g. Ports, Power Plants, Steel Plants, Paper manufacturing, Concrete

Producers.• Fully-erect shipment to ensure on time delivery.• Proven design, manufacturing and transportation capabilities.

PROVIDES YOU WITH HIGH-QUALITYBULK MATERIALS HANDLING

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bmi_sec1.qxd 28/7/06 1:49 pm

BMI May/June 200618

Cargo Handling

bags. The choice of whichtype of equipment is suppliedfor a particular application isbased on plant throughput andaccuracy requirements, aswell as on the handling re-quirements and characteristicsof each material. Comple-menting these bagging sys-tems is the Chrono-Pal seriesof automatic palletising sys-tems, capable of operating ina range of 400-5000 bags/h.

The parent company ofChronos Richardson, PremierTech of Canada reports hav-

ing recently almost quadru-pled bagging capacity at Wyo-ming Sugar Company based atWorland, WY, by replacing itsvalve-bagging operation witha fully automated open-mouthbagging machine. This has al-lowed capacity to be increasedfrom four to 15-16 bags/min.

Sugary stuffThe sugar producer hadplanned to automate its manu-ally operated belt valve packerand manual palletising stationby replacing the system with

a check-weigher and a metaldetector located downstreamfrom the filling station. At theend of the line a robotic cellwould be added to palletisethe filled bags, providing afully automated solution.

Premier Tech installed aUBM-1030 Series servo-driven scale on top of a PTS-1500 Series open-mouth bag-ger, an AR-200 Series roboticpalletising cell and its newlydesigned LW-470 Seriesstretch wrapper. This installa-tion converted WyomingSugar from using folded-valvebags to completely sealedbags, while at the same timeincreasing productivity andreducing manpower.

In February Premier Techdelivered two fully automaticpackaging lines to China forloading table salt and coarseindustrial salt into 50kg capac-ity woven PP open-mouth“pillow” bags. A major chal-lenge that had to be overcomewas the extreme humidity atthe plant of Sichuan HebangInvestment Group Co. whichrequired all machinery sur-faces to be protected againstrust as well as the corrosiveeffects of the salt.

True to formA recent development fromUK company Webster Griffinin the field of bag filling is anFFS system capable of auto-matically packing powdersinto plastic bags, which is saidto be far less expensive thanthe current industry norm. Themachine is capable of packingmortar mixes and similarproducts into 20-25kg bags ata rate of 6-8 bags/min.

A novel de-aeration/vacuum system combinedwith special films from theStorsack Group offers a wa-terproof and dustproof pack-age which is claimed to becapable of extending the shelflife of certain hygroscopicmaterials from just twomonths (when previouslystored in porous, valve papersacks) to at least nine months,and possibly longer.

This Webster Griffin FFS

machine unwinds plastic filmfrom a flat roll and forms itinto a tube which is then madeinto a bag before being filledwith the de-aerated powder.While the top of the bag isbeing sealed, the bottom of thenext bag is being made. Aningenious design feature en-sures there is no risk of anyelectro-statically chargedpowder coming into contactwith the plastic to be welded.

Apart from costing 65%less than a fully automaticvalve sack filling station thatwould comprise two valvesack filling machines, autosack placer and valve sealingsystem, this FFS solution ismore compact and accurate aswell as being dust free.

Enter BenjaminA new development in FFStechnology from Haver &Boecker of Germany is theBenjamin, which is suitablefor hygroscopic products intoplastic bags thereby protectingthem from moisture ingress.

Due to recent technical de-velopments, plastic tubularfilm PE bags can now be usedin preference to paper sacks,offering advantages of en-hanced product protection,prolonged shelf life and asmooth outer surface of theplastic bag that allows forhigh-quality 4-colour printing.

The latest advance in rotat-ing filling systems from Ha-ver & Boecker is the Adamswhich incorporates many ofthe technical innovationsfound in the new Benjaminstationary FFS system. TheAdams FFS system is suitablefor capacities up to 1200 bags/h with a maximum of ten fill-ing spouts for high compactionof powdery products.

Weighing inA major new development inthe field of industrial weigh-ing has been the co-operationagreement announced at theend of the spring betweenB+L Industrial Measurementsof Germany and Hardy Instru-ments of the USA, with theobjective of introducingweighing and tension controlequipment to Europe.

Heidelberg-based B+L willwork with Hardy Instrumentsof San Diego, CA, to developvariations of existing Hardyprocess weighing and tensioncontrol instrumentation and tocreate new designs for theEuropean market. It is ex-pected that existing Hardy In-struments’ customers will en-joy improved sales and serv-ice support throughout Eu-rope, while B+L customers

will gain access to a full lineof industrial weighing instru-mentation to choose from.

As Hardy is a worldwideEncompass partner toRockwell Automation, B+Lwill operate as its Europeanextension under the pro-gramme. The partnership willenable B+L to develop mar-ket segments offering majorbenefits to OEMs, system in-tegrators and end users.

B+L now offers single-slotweighing modules for plug-ging into the back plane ofAllen Bradley PLCs, as wellas a range of stand-aloneweighing instruments fordedicated tasks, such as fill-ing or loss-in-weight feedingcontrol.Interfaces as wideranging a DeviceNet, RemoteI/O, ControlNet, Profibus,Ethernet-IP, etc are availableon the various platforms.

Remote readingApplied Weighing of the UKrecently introduced a compacttelemetry system that isclaimed to be easy to use andcomplements the company’sexisting range of tank and ves-sel weighing systems. TermedTeleonix, it provides centralmonitoring for weighing sys-tems or any other kind ofmeasuring device at an unlim-ited number of remote loca-tions. The system is web-based and can be used, forexample, to monitor stock lev-els in silos or view the alarmstatus of allied equipment.

Teleonix is said to pave theway for closer cooperationbetween customers and sup-pliers of raw materials, espe-cially for multi-site opera-tions. Suppliers with access tothe internet can view stocklevels at sites anywhere in theworld and use the informationto plan deliveries more effi-ciently. The system can beretro-fitted to most existingweighing and measuring orlevel detection systems.

Bluetooth-basedSartorius of Germany has re-cently made significant ad-vances in the field of wirelesscommunication, eliminatingconnection problems in areaswhere mobile weighing is re-quired and conventional in-stallation is out of the ques-tion because of ambient con-ditions such as hazardous en-vironments or clean rooms.

These developments arebased on Bluetooth wirelesstechnology that offers a com-prehensive solution for fastand easy communication be-tween PCs and peripherals,and between indicators anddigital weighing platforms.According to Sartorius, anyPC software that communi-cates with a balance or scalethrough a COM port and ca-ble can communicate using aninstalled Bluetooth radio com-munication path.

The user benefits fromminimal expenditure, as theinterface modules abolish theneed for installing RS-232 orRS-485 cables and therebyeliminate installation costs,maintenance and level con-verters. Data communicationin both directions is protectedby frequency hopping. ❏

a dual-spout valve packer withultrasonic valve sealing and arobot to stack bags on pallets.This new configuration wouldhave increased bagging capac-ity from four to ten bags/min.

Several suppliers were con-tacted and Premier Tech wonthe contract with a proposal toreplace the valve-bagging op-eration with a fully automatedopen-mouth bagging ma-chine, using a pinch-top clos-ing system for paper bags. Fordouble-checking purposes,the system would also include

The Containerpak mobile

bagging unit from Chronos

Richardson is housed in two

20ft containers usingtechnology developed from

industrial applications but

ruggidised for stand-alone

quayside operation

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bmi_sec1.qxd 28/7/06 1:56 pm


Commodity focus

Biofuels feed the demand for fertilisers*Fertilisers make up the

fourth largest tradeddry bulk commodity

after coal, iron ore and grainand the trade is set to grow asdemand for biofuels increases.

The worldwide fertilisermarket is valued at aroundUS$80B/year with overallproduction in 2004 estimatedat around 500MT. Grain pro-duction accounts for over 60%of use, followed by cash cropsthat take a further 25%.Biofuel demand will see agrowing percentage of landmade available for crops, forethanol and also for biomassfor power generation.

Current production ofsome 40B litres, grown onsome 14M hectares or about1% of arable land availableworldwide, is forecast to in-crease to 100 bn litres by2015. This would, accordingto the International FertilizerIndustry Association (IFA),increase the use of nitrogenfertilisers by 2.1MT.

Approximately 156MT offertilisers were transported atsea during 2005, some 6% ofthe world’s total dry bulk sea-borne trade, and made up ofapproximately 20% phos-phates and potash, some 17%of both urea and sulphur andthe remainder comprisingmore complex types such asDAP, MAP and NPK com-pounds. Total seaborne trafficis anticipated to increase to169MT this year following atrend of 3 to 4 growth per an-num projected to 2009.

Production movesA key factor affecting sea-borne trade is the switch in thebalance of fertiliser manufac-turing from industrialisedcountries to developing re-gions. This is accelerating dueto higher energy prices, par-ticularly natural gas, as manu-facturers seek to establishplants near sources of cheapergas, such as the Middle East.

In the early 2000s, produc-tion of nitrogen and phosphatebased fertilisers in developingcountries exceeded that of theindustrial nations and it is ex-pected that this bias will in-crease further. In addition tothe quest for cheaper energy,other factors have been the ris-ing costs of shipping bulkyfertiliser producing materials,coupled with the desire of de-veloping countries to reducereliance on imported fertilis-ers and encourage local manu-facturing.

This point is also influ-enced by the impact of safetyand environmental regulationson the chemical and fertilisersectors in Europe and NorthAmerica and the muted inter-est in investment opportuni-ties in new and more efficientmanufacturing plant. Im-proved manufacturing andhandling technology, con-versely, has made developingcountries a more interestingmarket in which to invest innew production facilities.

Rock steadyThese factors are particularly

relevant for nitrogen and sul-phur-based products, whosemanufacture requires a high-energy content.

With exports from these re-gions anticipated to increase,the switch to non-traditionalmanufacturing regions is notexpected to affect the potashrock market due to the limitednumber of countries with ap-propriate deposits.

Potash strongLast year, nine countries ac-counted for 95% of the totalpotash production estimated at54MT, with Canada aloneholding around half theworld’s known potash re-serves. Most producers are op-erating at close to capacity,with the exception of Canadaand Russia which are able tofulfil growing demand,ramping up exports by 1.4MTand 2.2MT respectively by2006.

Five countries account for60% of imports, namely Bra-zil, China, France, India andthe US and it is estimated thatthese five nations could in-crease potash imports by a fur-ther 2MT by 2007 with glo-bal traffic increasing by 15%over the next five years.

Local processingThe IFA estimates that worldproduction of phosphate rockincreased last year by over 2%to reach 166MT, mainly dueto increased production inChina, Morocco, Egypt andSyria, although this was off-set by a fall in Canada andTogo.

Generally, however, therehas been a global decline inphosphate rock exports asmore ore is processed locally,and while traffic declined5.5MT from 1998 to 2005, areversal in 2004 saw a 5% in-crease over the previous year,followed by a nominal 1% lastyear to reach 31MT.

Morocco remains theworld’s largest exporter ofphosphate rock, with a 42%market share. US exports havefolded and the country hassubsequently become a netimporter, and China has nowre-directed the majority of itsexport flow to domestic con-sumption. Additionally, ex-ports from Russia and Togohave declined 35% and 50%in the past eight years.

This has been compensatedby increasing exports of phos-phate rock from Jordan, Syriaand Egypt, which in total haveincreased 30% over 1998-2004 to achieve a 27% shareof global exports.

Growth forecastGlobal production is forecastto grow to 189MT by 2009,with China accounting forsome two thirds of this in-

crease. China may surpass theUS in 2007 as the world’slargest producer.

Meanwhile Morocco is ex-panding its capacity to proc-ess phosphate rock into phos-phoric acid and ammoniumphosphates which may reflecton its rock exports but add sig-nificant value added content tothe reduced tonnage processedphosphates exports.

Currently, while the USremains the largest single ex-porter of ammonia phosphateswith over a 50% market share,its exports have been declin-ing by around 5% annually,while Russia and Moroccohave doubled their exportshare to 19% and 8%.

Urea on the upUrea seaborne trade reachedalmost 30MT in 2005, an in-crease of more than 23% over

the past five years, with pro-duction switching from re-gions of high energy costs tothose with lower cost highvolume supplies of naturalgas. Thus the US, WesternEurope, Japan, South Koreaand Mexico have seen pro-duction decline by 20% asits plants no longer remaincompetitive, although India,faced with similar condi-tions, has managed to retainits output.

Over the next five years,several large urea projects willenter production in West andEast Asia, with this formerregion having the largernumber of sites which will in-crease local capacity by some12 mtpa, the majority of whichwill be for export. Urea tradeis forecast to grow at least6MT by 2009.

East Asia, mainly China,

*This article is based on a

paper presented by Luc

Maene, Director General ofthe International Fertilizer

Industry Association at

Lloyd’s List’s “Dry Bulk

Shipping Market OutlookConference” held in London,

April 2006

will increase capacity by some7% to reach 41 mtpa, whichwill then account for 25% ofthe world’s urea production

Global fertiliser traffic has a low profile, as typified by this“record” 3400t discharge at a UK port (ABP Silloth), but

nevertheless it represents the world’s fourth largest traded

dry bulk commodity, approaching 170MT in 2006

capacity. China has switchedfrom being a net importer,mainly sourced from theUkraine, to a net exporter. ❏

25th-27thSeptember 2006

MelbourneExhibition Centre

Featuring 4 PracticalWorkshops

1. Design and troubleshootingof pneumatic conveyingsystems

2. Belt conveyor and transferchute design

3. Storage and feeding of bulksolids

4. Selection and operation offeeders for pneumaticconveying

Don’t miss the 2 site tours onWednesday 27th September 2006

ABA Port of MelbourneTerminal

Melbourne Cement Facilities

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News

David Brown is ahead of schedulein its contract to overhaul and up-grade the large conveying system atAustralia’s Yallourn power station inVictoria, in turn part of a majorscheme that involves diverting theMorwell River and upgrading andmodernising the Yallourn mine.

With the 2-year contract forYallourn Energy (now TRUenergyYallourn), stipulating completion of15 conveyor drive assemblies by thisSeptember, the company has alreadycompleted that number as well as twogearbox spares.

David Brown ahead down underExtra work was required follow-

ing a serious fire last December thatnecessitated the urgent refurbish-ment and relocation of a number ofdrive conveyors. Concurrent withthis urgent work was the refurbish-ment of critical drive gearboxes ona large overburden dredger that wasbeing upgraded at the same time.

Each of the 25 year-old conveyordrive assemblies either utilises a370kW or 610kW electric motor,gearbox, brake and fluid coupling,to absorb shock loading of the con-veyors, all mounted on a base plate.

While the gearboxes, of various ori-gins, were transported from Mel-bourne and overhauled at DavidBrown’s own facilities at Bulli,NSW, the work on motors and cou-plings was subcontracted.

Yallourn’s requirements of strin-gent QA documentation, refurbish-ment to EOM standard or better, fullload testing off-site plus incorpora-tion of condition monitoring deviceson all refurbished equipment weremet, and David Brown has also car-ried out refurbishment work on theoverburden dredger drives.

The Yallourn project is running wellahead of schedule

“The Yallourn contract has beena very steep learning curve for us,”commented David Brown projectmanager Geoff Kinniburgh. “Wewere confident that we had all of thenecessary experience and expertisebut we had never handled a projectof this scale and importance before.In completing the project success-fully and ahead of time, I believe wehave built a real reputation in thefield of asset management that willstand us in good stead for the future.”

As the 2-year project approachescompletion, David Brown is confi-dent that it will be able to negotiatea possible extra 6-year renewal hav-ing demonstrated a much greaterdegree of ownership of Yallournproblems and challenges than previ-ous asset management companies.

Yallourn W power station, located160 kms east of Melbourne, provides24% of Victoria’s power and 8% ofthe national requirement, while theadjacent open cut brown coal mineis the second largest in Australia withavailable reserves sufficient to meetthe projected needs of the power sta-tion until 2032.

To allow unimpeded access to thecoal field a project was begun fiveyears ago to divert the Morwell Riverand this was completed on time. The3.5 km diversion cost A$122M,while the mine upgrade and moderni-sation were also undertaken in the 5-year period and involved works tofixed conveyors and infrastructurecosting another A$50M.

UK-based Freightliner Group Ltdhas made a significant investment ofover £30M in new locomotives andwagons with the order for a furthersixteen class 66 locomotives fromthe US-based Electro Motive Diesel(EMD). The locos will be operatedby the intermodal and heavy haulunits, to allow the group to continueits growth and facilitate its objectiveof attracting more freight to rail.

They will be fitted with equip-ment to reduce emissions similar tothe current class 66/9s and some willbe regeared to increase tractionpower whilst hauling heavier loads.Delivery is anticipated towards theend of this year.

In addition, Freightliner HeavyHaul has ordered 118 new wagons,comprising 44 coal hoppers and 74aggregate hoppers. They will be sup-plied by Greenbrier, continuing thesuccessful co-operation with the US-based wagon builder and will be sup-plied by Greenbrier Europe’sWagonySwidnica plant in Polandbetween August this year and March2007.

Freightlinergears up

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