“Our 2010 will have a very busy tail end,” says Sjaus, who is based in Vancouver, BC. However, there are still bad memories from 2009 for some companies. Another leading maker of shiploaders and chutes saw the first half of 2009 as a “nightmare” with the world gripped in the clutches of an unrelenting recession. “We had no orders in the first half of 2009,” says Petro Bibolini, Commercial Director for Tenova TAKRAF of Italy. “We even had some order cancellations and the first half looked terrible.” But, that experience has just made the first half of 2010 much sweeter. Tenova-TAKRAF’s fortunes changed dramatically and it finished its fiscal June 30, 2010 with “very good” results. “We managed to get our budget and results in only a half year,” says Bibolini.
Worst behind us
The rest of 2010-2011 looks good, too, for the company which acquired Germany’s TAKRAF in early 2008. “We feel the worst is behind us and we have a good perspective for the future,” explains Bibolini. And with orders coming in again, Tenova-TAKRAF is no longer looking at reducing capacity and personnel as it was at one stage in 2009. For Canadian engineering specialists in bulk material handling systems, EMS-Tech Inc, a healthy work backlog kept the company going through the height of the global recession with considerable call for maintenance, refurbishing and installing value added replacement parts for bulk-handling equipment such as shiploaders, according to John Elder, Vice President Marketing, Sales & Product Development. The Belleville, Ontario based company had a “very dry year in terms of new system orders” in 2009, but in 2010 “the level of activity on the new project front has picked up considerably,” says Elder. “Some very nice orders have materialised thus far.” Details are awaiting actual contract signing, but EMS-Tech is looking at projects in China, Australia, India, Brazil and Indonesia, as well as home-grown projects in Canada. While some in the shiploading and chute business were forced to trim costs, curtail production and resort to layoffs, EMS-Tech is now searching for skilled persons in all disciplines to expand its business at home and abroad.
Surprisingly good
At FL Smidth Wadgassen, the German materials handling arm of the Danish parent company, orders are mounting and a 2009 that ended on a positive note has led to a “very good year” so far in 2010 with opportunities in Southeast Asia, India, Australia and South America. And for Cargotec Sweden AB, a 2009 that was slower than 2008 overall because of restricted investment by clients, still had a surprisingly good shiploader business, reports Jan Karlsson, Sales Director, Bulk Terminals. As 2010 matures into its second half, the Swedish company reports being back on track with numerous orders for bulk handling equipment, including shiploaders. With client confidence building, there have been increasing numbers of product inquiries, says Karlsson, especially in countries where large volumes of dry cargo are handled. Work is underway on a contract signed in 2009 for a 4,000 tonnes per hour shiploader being installed in India for iron ore export. With a 25 meter boom length, the shiploader is due for delivery this year. And, Cargotec has also recently inked a contract for a grain shiploader, but details, location and the client remain confidential at this stage, Karlsson says.
Major contracts
So far this year, FL Smidth Wadgassen has won major material handling work in a Kuwait cement plant, which involved a wide variety of bulk handling equipment from belt conveyor to ship unloaders. Elsewhere in the Middle East, the company reports contract success in a phosphate storage and shiploading terminal including two rail-mounted shiploaders, each with a capacity of 2,200tph. That project also involves a variety of conveyor systems, truck unloading stations, and a marine terminal complete with surge bins and jetty conveyors served by the two new shiploaders. Other recent contracts for biomass handling and storage in Holland and a pneumatic shipunloader in Bangladesh did not involve shiploaders or chutes, however, but added to the company’s growing work book. The Tenova-TAKRAF order book is firming up nicely, thanks to a long and solid relationship in Brazil with Vale, the world’s second-largest mining company. Bibolini says an order for five shiploaders years ago at the Port of Sao Luis – including the largest still operating in the world a 1980 vintage that still offers 20,000 tonne per hour – has led to other materials handling contract successes such as stackers. Sandvik and Tenova-TAKRAF are also both competing for materials handling equipment as part of the expansion of Pier 4 jetty at the port. Other Tenova successes include a 10,000tph shiploader in Mauritania in Africa. The iron ore project also saw the Italian company win the bid for conveyors, transfer towers, silos and a screening station with the work split between the Italian and German plants. The shiploader will be fabricated in Europe and transported to Mauritania for erection in April-May 2012. Also, in Africa, the company is in the running for a shiploader contract at Port Beire in Mozambique. In Geelong, a city not far from Melbourne, Australia, Tenova Sempf, a subsidiary, signed a contract earlier this year for a 1,000tph telescopic shiploader to handle woodchips. Tenova is also supplying conveyors to the shiploader at the Port of Geelong, giving it an annual capacity for wood chips of 2.5 million tonnes. And at home, Tenova-TAKRAF is busy in Italy’s conversion of oil-fired power plants to coal. For one major client Enel, it is supplying a gypsum and ash shiploader at the Torrevaldaliga Power Plant. The new shiploader should be commissioned in September, according to Bibolini. Tenova is also pursuing other projects involving ship unloaders and conveying systems.
Bullish
A small New Orleans-based manufacturer of shiploaders, Agrico Sales, recently signed a contract for three of its standard, stand-alone shiploaders for a “North American west coast feed and grain handling” port. Details of the project remain confidential at this stage, says Agrico Vice President of Sales, Bob Rieck, but the shiploaders will be able to handle 3,000tph without having to move the ship during loading. That brings to 15 the number of Agrico shiploaders around the world as the company gains more and more recognition for its tower shiploaders. “We are very bullish for the rest of 2010 and at least five projects should be decided between now and the end of the year,” says Rieck. “We at Agrico believe we are in the running for each of them.” Rieck attributes the growing interest in Agrico shiploaders to the fixed tower design, which costs significantly less than mobile shiploaders and their need for support along the entire dock. That alone can save between USD5 – 10 million over other shiploader designs. As well, Rieck says Agrico shiploaders are also more efficient as their multiple towers don’t have to stop loading during a hatch change. “With the flip of a valve we can redirect the bulk material flow to any of the towers.” It takes only one operator using radio remote controls to run the shiploaders. Agrico also boasts lower electrical power usage than most other shiploaders that have to use winch motors – often this can be the difference in power needs of 100 to 125 kilowatts to the 300kw needed by other users. Rieck also believes the shiploader towers are also easier to permit because of their smaller footprint.
Innovations
With the former Kovako technology for pneumatic shiploaders and unloaders transferred from FL Smidth Kovako (Holland) to FL Smidth Wadgassen (Germany), the company says it is now in a better position to offer clients a choice of bulk material loading and unloading systems. In one recent breakthrough, FL Smidth Wadgassen designed a combined shiploader for a coal-fired power plant in Germany, which is able to handle dry and wet ash as well as gypsum, using the latest in technology. For Canada’s EMS-Tech Inc, John Elder says “each new
shiploader brings with it innovations, some small and some large.” The focus stays on optimisation of equipment, reliability, environmental concerns, and strong competition. In one recent Canadian project for Kinder Morgan, EMS-Tech built a new shiploader in Victoria BC, barged it to Port Metro Vancouver and offloaded it successfully in April 2010. The shiploader incorporates the latest in environmental control features – including a Cleveland Cascade discharge trunk, a dust collection system, and dust curtains that run the length of the gallery – as well as electrical control software and hardware, which Elder says allows the use of the shiploader in environmentally sensitive areas with minimal operator expenses. Kinder Morgan bought the former Vancouver Wharves in North Vancouver, which is backed by residential development on the nearby mountains. The new shiploader is a traversing, slewing, luffing, shuttling machine with a telescopic discharge chute and a 2,500tph capacity.
Loading chutes
When it comes to handling extremely dry and dusty abrasive bulk materials such as phosphate, the correct choice of shiploader chute can play a huge role. Dust is the enemy and a United Kingdom firm, Cleveland Cascades Ltd, from the northeast, has become a world leader in providing chutes for dust free loading thanks to a concept it says was “born out of necessity.” The patented, award-winning Cleveland Cascade system is used all over the world handling dry and dusty materials. Instead of free fall 25 meters or so into a ship’s hold, the system uses a series of inclined cones set in a zig-zag path in the chute to limit the bulk material’s flow velocity. The zig-zag flow prevents particulate separation and the entrainment of large quantities of air, which would otherwise lead to dust production. Using the cascade technology, dust is practically eliminated at source without the need for expensive and energy-intensive dust extraction and filter systems. These days it’s not just phosphate as other dry bulk materials such as alumina, coal, grain and fertilizers are also being loaded by the Cascades system providing a dusting solution for 100s of clients worldwide. Most chutes have ceramic linings and provide an anticipated service life of 50 million tonnes. And Cleveland Cascades also provides its clients with a detailed assessment report of dusting levels before and after installation. The UK-company has had recent chute contract successes in Syria, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Israel, Australia and Europe and sees itself as the “industry standard best practice whether it be for new or existing shiploaders.
Too heavy
The original Cascade design with inclined cones is available in three basic sizes according to cone diameter and handle flow rates over 4,000 cubic meters an hour depending on bulk material flow characteristics. And according to Greg Andrew, Chief Engineer Mechanical for engineering consultants Worley Parsons of Vancouver, BC, says environmental considerations and the battle against dust are driving shiploader systems to become heavier. This creates another problem for engineers and chute makers that is no longer uncommon – shiploader chutes being so heavy that they can drop into the hold. It’s no wonder that shiploader manufacturers, such as Agrico, largely choose chutes or spouts directly from global suppliers such as Cleveland Cascades or from Mid-West International (Mid-West made its first retractable bulk loading spout 40 years ago) rather than building their own. “It has to be a pretty slow time before we make our own,” admits Agrico’s Rieck.