These highly flexible, relatively low cost, speedy delivery bulk movers are big among free flowing products such as cement, soya meal, cereals, corn, wheat and even chemicals such as alumina and soda ash. Port mobile shipunloaders earn their keep by being easily moved from one dock to another or can move along a ship during unloading to save the cost of having to move the vessel. Major players in the industry like Vigan, Buhler, Cargotec and Van Aalst all report strong sales in 2014 and say the future in 2015 continues to look bright. Among the happiest of the major mobile shipunloader manufacturers was Jorgen Ojeda, Director of Siwertell mobile unloaders, part of Cargotec in Sweden. “We had a very successful 2014 with quite a number of orders.” He’s also excited by what he calls a “very positive trend” where repeat orders from existing Siwertell customers have been a rewarding testimony of the value of Siwertell mobile unloaders in a highly-competitive market. “Closing three contracts at the very start of 2015
and taking into account that the number of inquiries is higher in comparison to the same period in 2014, we see no indications of a downward trend at the moment,” says Ojeda.
Record year
The sale of mobile shipunloaders by Belgian manufacturer Vigan set a record in 2014 with double digit growth for the second year in a row. Vigan Marketing Co-ordinator, Valerie Veriter, reports growth in all ranges of shipunloaders from gantry based, to those serving river barges, and small size flexible grain pumps all over Africa and Asia. “Our 2015 is shaping quite well, although it is a little early to confirm the same tendency as 2014,” adds Veriter. “Several projects are in the pipeline, but they take time to be finalised.” Vigan also has had repeat orders after customers have had their machines for many years of operation and sees this as “proof of fulfillment above expectations.” For Netherlands based Van Aalst, 2014 was “very good” and the future in 2015 “also looks bright with some nice projects in the pipeline,” says Sales Director, Martin Bakker.” Van Aalst landed a large dual project in New Zealand providing mobile shipunloaders for cement company Holcim, a major importer and distributor of cement in both the North and South Islands. The $100 million projects are in Timaru in the South Island and in Waitemata, Auckland, in the North Island where new cement import ports are being built with shore-based shipunloading facilities
“Very prosperous”
For Swiss-based Buhler AG, which has a presence in 140 countries worldwide, the market for mobile continuous shipunloaders was “very prosperous” in 2014, and not to disappoint, 2015 has started in a “very promising” fashion with “a full order book and multiple projects” largely for mechanical unloaders on tyres or on tracks, says Product Manager, Vincent Van der Wijk. Sales were made of the Buhler Portalink series of mobile shipunloaders including two mid-size unloaders with a capacity of 800 tonnes per hour; a repeat order for another of the same size for an existing customer; and a 600 tph model to Asian buyers. Van der Wijk says the interest has been well spread with no particular “hot” sales regions identified. IBAU Hamburg, which largely serves the cement industry from its base in Germany, usually sees mobile shipunloaders as just part of a complete solution for their clients – from unloader to storage to distribution. Sales Director, Mario Raemmele, says the mobile shipunloader business was still good and IBAU sold
two port mobile unloaders to serve 10,000 tonne deadweight vessels to customers in Bahrain and Somalia, plus another of similar capacity and size to a Chinese port. To start the company’s year off well, it also sold a high-capacity 800 tph unloader to another Chinese customer. Future materials handled could include clinker – part of the cement production process – and Raemmele says IBAU is working on developing a reliable screw type unloader for clinker whichcould also have potential use in grinding terminals in future.
Other suppliers
Companies that put mobile shipunloaders in the deeper pages of their equipment catalogue don’t rely on their sales unless part of a materials handling package built around such equipment as stationary unloaders and see the unloaders more as a niche product. German-based Neuero says mobile shipunloaders remain “marginal” in its business mix but the company is exploring a new product for the equipment – handling palm nuts which its double stage blower design unloader “offers an easy solution for this difficult product,” says Tomas Kisslinger, Neuero Managing Director. “The palm nut handling in Indonesia is increasing and bigger machines with a 16 meter boom are being used now for better operation,” adds Kisslinger. Palm nuts are actually shipped in bags but when they get to their offload port the bags are opened for easier unloading. Neuero is also redesigning its small equipment such as mobile shipunloaders to enable the company to be available to a wider range of products. FL Smidth doesn’t rest its laurels on mobile shipunloader sales, but the small unloaders are still available in its equipment portfolio.
“Most inquiries these days,” says David Bergenstock, Sales Manager, Pneumatic Transport Systems & Products, in the company’s Pennsylvania office, “are for stationary systems rather than mobile systems.” He has seen a decline in demand for “truly mobile shipunloaders” over the past 15 years. Northern Ireland’s Telestack Limited continues to excel in providing “innovative mobile bulk material handling systems to a world-wide customer base,” and also builds mobile shipunloaders, truck unloaders and mobile radial telescopic conveyors. In some applications, the equipment has dual functionality for both shiploading and unloading.
Hot sales
These days, there’s lots of debate over where the “hot” sales regions are. Siwertell answers Northern and Western Africa, but it recently sold its first road mobile shipunloader onto the Indian market to be delivered this summer as a backup to previous sales of port mobile unloaders. And there’s satisfaction in recent repeat orders from Turkish companies, says Jorgen Ojeda. Siwertell’s recent contract successes are impressive with its first dual product mobile shipunloaders in the United Kingdom at ABP’s Port of Immingham. The screw type unloaders will handle both wood pellets and coal at the Drax power plant at a rate of 1,200 tph. Two road mobile ship unloading and conveying systems were sold to Raysut Cement in Oman in 2014 for service in the eastern port of Duqm. Another road mobile unit went to Medcem Global Pazarlama AS in Turkey, the third such order from the cement company in 18 months. A repeat order for a second road mobile unloader for Acico Construction Co in Kuwait follows the success of a first unloader delivered in July 2014. For Vigan the top sales region in 2014 was the money rich Middle East and grain hungry North Africa, followed by Asia and Europe. Iranian customers bought several portable grain pump models in 2014 and you’ll find Vigan mobile unloaders in most ports of the Caspian Sea unloading small vessels carrying wheat from Kazakhstan or Russia. Van Aalst sees big opportunities in the United States and new customers in Africa (including a recent sale to cement giant Lafarge in Mauritius) and Asia.
The competition
None of the big makers of mobile shipunloaders seems that fussed over increasing competition from low-cost manufacturers in China and Asia. Siwertell’s Ojeda acknowledges the competition from low-cost suppliers has been there for a few years now, but he says experience has shown that “our customers prefer the quality and reliability of the Siwertell mobile systems instead of cheaper solutions.” At Van Aalst they know the cheaper mobile unloaders are out there and Sales Director Bakker says the company “needs to be sharp and focussed on new the parties and this forces us to be careful with our very important intellectual property.” Vigan welcomes the com
petition. “It is good and sound in any industry to have competitors and new entrants,” says Marketing Co-ordinator Veriter. “It pushes everyone to optimise quality and reliability.” Interestingly, Vigan is still being asked to supply spare parts for some of its unloaders that are from 25 to 30 years old.
Innovation
Constant change and innovation are the rule for most major mobile shipunloader manufacturers. Thanks to numerous requests from around the world, Buhler has made various service packages tailor-made to specific unloader customers. One offers complete or part retrofit of the marine leg – the heart of mechanical unloaders – involving a diagnosis and intervention before any costly interruptions happen. Another service package involves an upgrade of the unloader operating systems bringing them up to standard with
innovations such as touch panel which directly presents error messages. Vigan has new ideas which reduce operational costs especially power consumption, give components longer shelf life, improve environmental and safety aspects as well as operator working conditions; plus improving technological know-how and productivity in engineering and manufacturing. Van Aalst keeps building lighter and lighter machines using less steel and making them more energy efficient.
Better use of pumps and compressors brings lower fuel consumption. “We are constantly improving the details of the machine with focus on people, the planet and profit,” says Martin Bakker. For Siwertell the focus is on upgrading the entire product range with new diesel engines which meet the latest European and U.S. environmental standards.