Almost 60,000 tonnes of wood pellets were unloaded from the POPI S – the first time such cargo has been carried by a Panamax-class vessel. The ship was loaded at the Westview Terminal in Prince Rupert, British Columbia on 2 June, before making the 34-day journey to Immingham. The pellets have been discharged using ABP’s bespoke continuous ship unloaders, which feed the product onto a conveyor system connected to Immingham Renewable Fuels Terminal (IRFT), where it will be stored in eight silos, each capable of holding 25,000 tonnes of biomass, before being loaded onto trains for the final part of its journey. IRFT is the world’s largest dedicated biomass handling facility.

The world-beating shipment forms part of ABP’s Humber-wide agreement with Drax Power Ltd, which will see it supply up to six million tonnes of biomass per year to the power station as part of its conversion to low carbon electricity generation. ABP Director Humber, John Fitzgerald said: “This shipment marks a significant milestone not only in our partnership with Drax, but in the development of the biomass and renewable energy sectors globally. “This is a very exciting time for our ‘Energy Estuary’ and we’re extremely proud to be at the forefront of the renewables industry on the Humber, working closely with partners including Drax, to drive innovation, boost the regional and national economy and fuel the Northern Economic Powerhouse.” Drax Head of Supply Chain & Logistics, Graham Backhouse said: “This shipment provides further evidence of our new supply chain supporting the transition from coal to sustainable biomass at Drax.   We are transforming the UK’s largest Power Station into one of Europe’s largest generators of renewable electricity and this shipment is another example of how we provide the UK with sustainable, reliable and affordable energy.”

Increasing demand from customers for export services has led Patrick to commission the brand new ship-to-shore crane which augments the company’s existing fleet to five. The crane which has an outreach of 50m with a lifting capacity of 75 tonnes, lifts containers in both single and twin-lift mode and, is faster in terms of its hoist and cross travel speeds. Terminal Manager Matt Hollamby said: “The acquisition of this new machinery is further testament to Patrick’s commitment to vigorously contest the market with the highest quality equipment.

“We expect to make significant productivity gains with this new crane. It will join a fleet of existing ZPMC cranes and will deliver efficient supply chains for importers and exporters. “This investment is a demonstration of Patrick’s commitment to the Port of Brisbane and represents the continuation of a development program aimed to serve the needs of our customers for years to come,” he added further.

The crane was manufactured in Ireland by Liebherr Container Cranes, one of the world’s leading crane manufacturers and delivered in parts to Patrick’s Brisbane Autostrad Terminal in February. Close to 200 individual lifts were required to bring the parts ashore – everything from small packing cases to the machinery house. In addition to the new crane, Patrick also commissioned four additional automated straddle machines or AutoStrads to support the crane bringing its fleet total to five ship-to-shore gantry cranes and 31 Autostrads in the Brisbane operations.