necessary evil – the elimination of
which is desirable. If it were possible to
eliminate hatches, the capital cost and
operating cost of the vessels would be
decreased. It would actually cost the
shipping company less to increase the
safety and profitability of their vessels.
Self-loading and
self‑unloading bulk
carriers
An ocean-going bulk carrier designed
to load and unload itself using recently
patented Walker Reclaimer Technology
would eliminate the need for large
hatches in the weather deck.
2
Elimination of hatches and hatch covers
would decrease the capital cost and
operating cost of the vessel, while
increasing the safety and expected life
of the vessel. It is also possible that
required time in port to load and
unload the vessel would be decreased
further increasing the vessel’s annual
net revenue.
Unloading vessels by means of the
Walker Reclaimer would eliminate
damage to the epoxy coating,
protecting the hold from corrosion now
caused by clamshell buckets and
mobile equipment lowered into the
holds. Decreasing corrosion increases
the safety and useful life of the vessel.
Eliminating the need to introduce
clamshell buckets or other intrusive
devices into holds allows the holds to
be partitioned as desired. By installing
partial longitudinal bulkheads in the
holds, traverse bulkheads would be
strengthened and the possibility of load
shifting in rough weather would be
eliminated. The resulting vessel could
very easily be stronger, lighter, less
expensive and safer than existing
designs.
By using Walker Reclaimer
technology to discharge the vessel,
expensive port facilities would not be
required. The only requirements of an
unloading port would be sufficient
draft, mooring facilities, a receiving
hopper to receive coal from the vessel’s
discharge conveyor and a method to
handle, store and forward the offloaded
coal.
Requirements of a port to load a
self-loading vessel would include
sufficient draft, mooring facilities,
facilities to receive coal from suppliers,
storage capacity of a sufficient quantity
of coal to load the vessel, a system to
reclaim the coal from storage and a
conveyor to feed coal into the vessel’s
receiving house. Very large wharfs and
expensive shiploaders would no longer
be required.
Vessels that can transfer coal over
the oceans more safely and at less cost
can only be beneficial to the coal
industry. As mentioned above, the
self-loading and self-unloading coal
transport vessels make fewer demands
on loading and unloading ports. Next
month, the authors will examine how
future coal ports will be changed to
decrease their cost, particulate pollution
and adverse visual impact, while
increasing their throughput. These
future ports may also serve as parks for
the beautification of the area and
enjoyment of their neighbours!
References
1.
.
CoxShips.pdf
2. WALKER, H. A & WALKER D. F.
'Moving Forward',
World Coal
, Vol. 25
No. 3 (March 2016), pp. 60 – 64.
Halbach & Braun
Coal Crusher
Halbach & Braun Industrieanlagen GmbH & Co.
Am Stahlwerk 11
Fon: +49 2324 9082-0
45527 Hattingen
Fax: +49 2324 9082-90
Germany
■
stationary, semi-mobile or mobile
■
integrated prescalping possible
■
high throughput
