SMB Group supplies ship loader to Klaipeda
Automation and instrumentation for material handling from a single source
Quickborn/Litauen, September 2013 – The Klaipeda Stevedoring Company (Klasco) in Lithuania is continuing to invest in the expansionm of its material handling capacities: A further high-performance, ultramodern ship loader has been ordered for the loading of fertilisers at its deep-water quay from the German SMB Group with headquarters in Quickborn near Hamburg.
„We expect to commission the ship loader in Lithuania in December 2013,“ announced Andreas Heckel, Managing Director and CEO of the SMB Group. SMB delivered the first ship loader to Klasco six years ago. „It has done outstanding service there,“ added Heckel. „Although – at the customer‘s request – the first ship loader was designed for only one to two-shift operation, it has operated practically 24/7 over the past two years due to the sharp increase in fertiliser trans-shipment figures. And that without any problems.“ Added to that were the enormous loads as a result of extreme temperature fluctuations and weather conditions in the port of Klaipeda, and the in some cases severe corrosive effects of the shipped fertilisers. „The material handling facilities have really suffered, but they operated reliably. The installed technology has impressed Klasco to such an extent that we can now supply a second ship loader,“ said Heckel, not without a hint of pride.
Loading capacity of up to 2,000 tonnes per hour
Klasco‘s fertiliser handling facilities can load a wide variety of products in four separate areas onto Panamax-class bulkers. The storage capacity is 120,000 tonnes, the potential total goods handling capacity approx. two million tonnes. The quay is designed to cope with these capacities: It is 264 metres long and has a water depth of 14 metres. The fertilisers come predominantly by rail from Russia, are unloaded gently by Klasco (up to 1,600 tonnes/hour) and placed into intermediate torage where they are protected from the weather. They are then loaded onto bulkers via high-performance conveyors and the existing SMB ship loader with a loading capacity of up to 2,000 tonnes/hour. „The new ship loader will actually have a capacity of well over 2,000 tonnes per hour,“ reports Heckel. In addition, Klasco is also investing in the construction of new silo capacities.
