Russia’s largest stevedoring company Vostochny Port JSC, which is a part of Port Management Company LLC, says it has taken the delivery and started assembling of an innovative ship loading conveyor (SLC).
SLC intended for conveying of coal into the holds of bulk carriers was developed by Mitsui Miike (Japan) together with the specialists of Vostochny Port JSC under an agreement for delivery of equipment signed with the Japanese company Marubeni Corporation under the Port’s programme on modernization and renovation of its facilities.
The equipment was delivered by Dutch company Big Lift specializing in transportation of heavy cargo by sea transport. The new SLC will replace one of the four conveyors at the dedicated coal terminal of Vostochny Port JSC.
643-tonne SLC was delivered by the Happy Star ship equipped with two cranes with aggregate capacity of 1,800 tonnes. It took one hour to unload the cargo at berth No 49 of Vostochny Port JSC.
“The main requirement of Vostochny Port JSC was the reliability and operational efficiency of ship loading conveyor. The new machine is more powerful and more automated with an enhanced hydraulics. This year we are going to deliver two similar machines to the berth of Phase 3 which is under construction today,” said Mitsunori Mori, Deputy General Manager of Industrial Plants Division, Marubeni Corporation. He also emphasized that implementation of a project together with Vostochny Port JSC is an important phase in the development of Russia-Japan relationship.
SLC can load Capesize bulk carriers of up to 180,000 t in deadweight. A system of conveyors supplies coal to SLC which feeds its directly into the ship hold. The outreach of this SLC model is 46 m, the angle of elevation is between -15 and +15 decrees depending on a ship to be loaded.
“New SLC of Vostochny Port is unique for Russia. It is equipped with additional system of final cleaning of coal before it is loaded into a ship. … Powerful neodymium magnets ensure the highest degree of coal cleaning without affecting the loading rates. This solution is a know-how of our port specialists,” says Anatoly Lazarev, Managing Director of Vostochny Port JSC.
Representatives of Mitsui Miike together with specialists of Vostochny Port JSC have commenced installation of the equipment and connecting it to power network. New SLC will start operation in February.
The agreement of Vostochny Port JSC and Marubeni Corporation on supply of ship loading equipment was signed during the First Eastern Economic Forum in 2015.
Vostochny Port JSC (Primorsky Territory) is Russia’s largest publicly available terminal equipped with wagon dumpers, conveyor systems, ship loading equipment and a unique multilevel system of magnetic separation. The terminal exports coal produced by different coal companies of Russia. In 2016 the port handled 23,5 mln t of coal, one fifth of all coal exports via Russian seaports and about 30% of coal transshipment via the ports of Russia’s Far East Basin.
Vostochny Port JSC LLC is implementing an ambitious investment project on construction of the coal terminal’s Phase 3 including the construction of the federal railway infrastructure. New terminal facilities will be put into operation in 2017 allowing for port capacity to reach 39 mln t in 2019. The coal will be delivered from Kuzbass and other coal fields of Russia.
A sole executive body of Vostochny Port JSC is Port Management Company LLC.