No wonder stacker-reclaimer sales are understandably not daily occurrences. Add into the equation the global economic meltdown from late in 2008 until early 2010 and there’s every reason for contract successes to have been even fewer than in the happier times of the good old days of 2007. The big machines are complex and the process from order to commissioning can take two years or more. Global competition is always hot among the major players including Sandvik, Metso, Tenova TAKRAF, ThyssenKrupp Fordertechnik, FAM (Forderanlagen Magdeburg), and FL Smidth, with all hungry and vying for new work. Last year, some were forced by circumstance to cut back production and let employees go in countries such as Finland, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom as the firms concentrated on market segments that still had life. Some reported that potential clients kept projects involving stacker-reclaimers on life support or ordered time-consuming new engineering studies awaiting the turnaround in economic fortunes and a resumption of business as normal once again.
Recovery looms
All of the angst may change as signs of recovery – regardless of the recent economic turmoil in Greece and a few other countries – are more positive today than in recent months and in the steel industry, for example, business could be back to 2007 levels by the end of the year, according to Gianluigi Nova, CEO of Tenova, one of the leading suppliers for the mining and bulk handling industries in its relationship with TAKRAF, which brought Italian and German interests under the same Techint Group umbrella. Over in Finland at Metso, President & CEO Jorma Eloranta, notes a 1st Quarter recovery by most markets and says key customer industries are continuing to improve. “Since our customers are regaining their confidence the demand for new capital equipment and project business has also improved. Price competition in the markets seems to be easing up as the trading environment is getting stronger.” At FAM in Germany, Deputy Director of Sales, Michael Kutza, says 2010 should be a “more normal year” much like the pre-economic crisis times. “Our 2010 is looking better and better . . . it’s happening slowly, but some projects are restarting again around the world.” That follows a dismal 2009 in North America, at least, with “lots of talk, a lot of budget pricing, but no orders,” according to one of FAM USA’s representatives in the field. And for Sandvik of Sweden’s North American operations, the outlook is also more bullish than a year ago agrees Milan Sjaus, General Manager Projects & Systems in USA & Canada. “There are quite a few projects and the activity level is very, very high, particularly in iron ore and nickel.”
Contract success
Among those willing to talk about contract successes, Sandvik achieved substantial completion in the 1st Quarter with a bucket wheel stacker-reclaimer at Westshore Terminals, Canada’s major coal export terminal in Delta, B.C. and is now in further reliability trials before handover. The 60- meter boom stacker-reclaimer – the fourth on Westshore’s site – is required to perform at stacker and reclaim rates up to 7,000tph. The new stacker-reclaimer was the final piece in a three-year $49 million equipment upgrade at Westshore, which took annual capacity from 24 million tonnes to 29mt. Currently, as world demand for steelmaking coal rises, Westshore – the busiest coal export terminal in all of North and South America – is already running near or at its new capacity. In another move, Westshore is converting its three older stacker-reclaimers, an IHI (Japan) and two Stephens-Adamson (Canada) models to automatic operation later this year. Meanwhile, Sandvik finished erecting another stacker-reclaimer for Consolidated Thompson for iron ore handling at Point Noire in the Port of Sept-Iles in Quebec and expects to be in commissioning by the end of May. Consolidated has built a railway to the port and expects to handle up to 16 million tonnes of iron ore a year once operations begin. Sandvik’s Sjaus says there could be promising opportunities at Greenfield terminals that are planned for potash shipments on the west coast and there’s another Gateway Pacific coal terminal project being considered at Cherry Point just south of the Canadian border. Ridley Terminals in the Port of Prince Rupert is also considering expansion and that could mean another stacker-reclaimer. Projects in Chile (copper handling) and Colombia (Xstrata Coal’s Prodeco thermal coal operation where a consortium of coal companies are building Puerto Nuevo, a new, multi-user, direct ship-loading port facility at Cienaga) also hold promise of future work. As well, Sandvik is busy refurbishing and upgrading older stacker-reclaimers in projects on both coasts of North America.
Picking up
Metso Vice President of Global Sales, Dave Hicken, who is based in the Finnish firm’s UK office in Rugby, says the past year of recession was not as bad as first thought and business is starting to pick up again, particularly on the bulk materials side and especially for one of Metso’s specialties, rail car dumpers. As for stacker-reclaimers Metso is busy in India with numerous projects covering a wide variety of stacker/ scraper/ circular and other stockyard equipment largely for use with coal or cement. In one contract for BGR Energy Systems Ltd, Metso provided two bucketwheel stacker-reclaimers for use with coal. Elsewhere Metso reports new opportunities in Asia and is in the final throes of handover for a new stacker-reclaimer at South Africa’s premier coal export port, Richards Bay. In that terminal expansion project which took capacity to 91mtpy, all new stockyard equipment purchased originated from firms operating under the Metso umbrella, making it a major contract success. The 60 meter boom stacker-reclaimer installed at Richards Bay is capable of 6,000tph in both stacking and reclaim. Like most new stacker-reclaimers these days, the Metso model is fully automatic, although it will likely be operator run initially. Hicken says Metso is also active in Brazil but is pursuing the stacker-reclaimer side of its business selectively because of the buildup in work in other areas of its bulk handling expertise. “There appear to be plenty of other opportunities, projects where we consume less of our resources and can get a better return.”
Power plants
For FAM and Deputy Sales Director Kutza, the recession still saw contract successes in Chile (copper) and Mozambique (magnetite). But, it was the power plant business in Germany that brought most of the excitement with two bucket wheel stacker-reclaimers for the busy Port of Wilhelmshaven and work at another coal import terminal. And a scraper-reclaimer and a separate stacker were also provided to the Mannheim power plant. Kutza says other hot spots in an improving market include South Africa, Asia (Indonesia), and among the former satellites of the Soviet Union. FAM has specialised in providing complete coal handling systems for power plants from stockyard equipment to silos, as well as stacker-reclaimers and the like. And in the cement business, FL Smidth (through Kovako Materials Handling) has commissioned some of the world’s largest stacker-reclaimers, matching kiln throughputs of up to 11,000 tonnes per day with storage capacities of 5,400tph and reclaim capacities of 1,600tph.
Innovations
Stacker-reclaimers have been through cosmetic improvements over the past few years but are largely as they were in appearance 25 years ago. The difference comes in innovative changes, such as light-weight bucket wheel design (ThyssenKrupp), and the move to fully automatic operation, which nearly all now offer. Sandvik offers automation and condition monitoring hand-in-hand which allows pre-emptive, preventative maintenance, according to Sjaus. While there have been no major design breakthroughs in recent years, the Swedish company is aware of the continuing need to protect the environment and has had advances in optimising power use and limiting dust emissions on its stacke
r-reclaimers. For its part, Metso has been incorporating wider use of hydraulic bucket wheel drives rather than electrical drives. The hydraulic drives are proving more efficient says global sales VP Hicken, and are proving more forgiving in tough stockpile situations, especially when the bucket wheel becomes swamped.