Self-Discharging Ships

Airslide loading systems use a slope that harnesses gravity to convey fine powders. This is achieved by forcing air through a porous fabric for the required fluidisation. The steel-structure boxed frames & housings, abrasion-resistant polyester fabric, and high-quality blowers combine to form rugged and versatile loaders to handle materials like cement, alumina, and hydrated lime, fly ash and plastic powders. Additionally, air-slide-based loaders are fully enclosed and self-cleaning and have no moving parts. This means they are quiet, dust-free and require almost no maintenance.

Material is loaded for transport pneumatically or mechanically. The central loading point with air slides, fitted with valves and drop-off pipes, distributes the dry material over the holds.

The screw conveyor (or auger) loading system features sufficient design versatility to accommodate loading applications in almost any industry. The (stainless) steel construction, unique pitch design, hardened augers, and more convey the dry material to ship holds. This design and experience enable us to create articulated load conveyors for almost any powder or uniformly-sized bulk material. Material is loaded for transport pneumatically or mechanically. The horizontal screw conveyor, fitted with valves and drop-off pipes, distributes the dry material over the holds.

The pneumatic loading principle is utilized when a ship is loaded through a pipeline system. In this case, the cement is transported via a pneumatic conveying system all the way to the ship through a pipeline. A flexible rubber hose connects the pipeline onshore with the ship’s onboard pipeline.

The double re-loader system uses a set of vacuum pressure tanks to discharge the ship pneumatically. Each hold of the ship is fitted with a sloped aeration bottom to collect cement in the centre of the hold. A suction pipe is placed above the lowest point. Using vacuum flow created by vacuum pumps, the material is conveyed to one of two re-loader tanks. The self-cleaning filters in the tank separate the air and material. Once complete, the tank is pressurised to convey the cement to shore pneumatically. Using two tanks in tandem allows for a nearly continuous flow.

The E3-Cargo system uses a minimum of components to transport cement to and from the cement holds. No vacuum system is needed to unload the vessel due to the specially designed E3-Tanks. The E3-Tanks are located below the fluidization fabric and are loaded by gravity loading. Once the Tanks are full, the tanks will discharge towards the receiving facility in a continuous material flow. This makes the system energy-saving, efficient and economical. The installation of an out loading boom also makes mechanical unloading possible.

A screw conveyor system for a self-discharging cement carrier uses vertical and horizontal screw conveyors to load and unload cement.

Each hold of the ship is fitted with a sloped aeration bottom to collect material in the centre of the hold. The vertical screw conveyor moves dry material up to deck level, which is transferred to a horizontal screw conveyor. The horizontal screw conveyor then feeds it to either the central hopper or the mechanical out loading boom for pneumatic or mechanical unloading, respectively.

The Screw Pump system uses cement pumps for conveying dry bulk material. The pumps are positioned below the fluidized floor in the cargo holds. The material flows to the vent hopper of the screw pump. The high-speed screw conveyor compacts the material (effectively forming an airlock) and pushes it through a non-return valve into the receiving chamber. In this chamber, the material is mixed with compressed air and conveyed through a pipeline to its final designation.

The Fluidized Floor System is one of the keys to successfully unloading dry bulk materials on board Self-Discharging Ships. This inclined bottom of the cargo holds is covered with fluidized fabric sections installed to the floor. Air blown underneath the fluidizing fabric sections passes through the fabric and fluidizes the cement or other dry material. A ship with only a fluidized floor system installed can unload its cargo in combination with a ship-to-Silo or Ship-to-Truck unloader. These ship unloaders can be connected to the fluidized floor pipe system for conveying the dry bulk material to a storage facility or directly to trucks.