INCLEMENT WEATHER SHIP LOADING SYSTEM FOR BULK MATERIALS

SYSTEME DE CHARGEMENT DE PRODUITS EN VRAC DANS UN NAVIRE PAR TEMPS INCLEMENT

English Abstract

A ship loading system suitable for loading bulk materials efficiently into a
broad range of bulk carriers
including during inclement weather.
The system incorporates a novel shiploader and tripper located within a
specially designed building.
Said building may be supported on marine piles or preferably on floating
pontoons. The building may be
assembled in modules off-site, with one or more of the modules capable of
being moved to site with the
shiploader system pre-commissioned.

Claims

Inclement weather ship loading system for bulk materials
The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege
is claimed
are defined as follows:
1. Referring to Figures 1 through 8, a novel ship loading system for
loading bulk products,
consisting of a shiploader, items 2 through 8 as well as 15, configured for
mounting inside a
building, 1.
2. A shiploader suitable for being efficiently installed inside of a building.
3. A shiploader for loading bulk materials such as grain, fertilizers and
cement that permits loading
to continue during inclement weather by virtue of being totally contained
within a building.
4. Referring to Figure 8, a shiploader, whose boom, 15, is not entirely
supported by the bridge, 3,
but which instead uses a combination of devices, or a separate device such as
an overhead
travelling crane, 7, to support the boom near the distal end.
5. Referring to Figure 1, a shiploader that advantageously receives
material from an endless
conveyor system that is supported from a cantilevered structure, 2, that runs
parallel to the
bridge travel direction.
6. Referring to Figure 8, a shiploader where the relative motions of the
various components may
be actively, or in the preferred embodiment, passively controlled.
7. Referring to Figure 8, a shiploader where the relative motions of crane
trolley, 6, may be
electrically synchronized with the boom distal suspension point/s.
8. Referring to Figure 8, a shiploader where the relative motions of
trolley, 6, may advantageously
be passively controlled by the orientation of the suspending means, 21.
9. Referring to Figure 8, a shiploader where the separate suspension
system, 7, is electrically
synchronized with the bridge, 3, and/or tripper, 4.
10. Referring to Figure 8, a shiploader where, advantageously, the separate
suspension system, 7, is
passively synchronized with the bridge, 3, and/or tripper, 4 via a towing arm
23, or via the
suspension system, 21.
11. Referring to Figure 8, a tripper, 4, where the support system, 27, may
advantageously be
supported at a different elevation, or various elevations relative to the
bridge travel system, 26.
12. Referring to Figure 1, a shiploader with one or plurality of auxiliary
device/s for storing various
chutes.
13. A building item 1, capable of safely supporting said bulk shiploader,
including during inclement
conditions such as wind, snow, ice, and rain, including loading associated
with this weather. The
building is fully capable of supporting site-specific snow, ice and storm-wind
loads.
14. A floating building, item 1, supported on pontoons, items 11A and 11B,
containing the
shiploader.
15. A building capable of being assembled offsite, in modular form if
required.
16. A building module capable of being moved to site, complete with pre-
commissioned shiploading
system.
17. Referring to Figure 1, a building with integral maintenance facilities,
10, that allow safe access
platforms to the spout for cleaning and spout change-out, 28.
Date Recue/Date Received 2020-06-09

18. Referring to Figure 1, a building with integral maintenance facilities,
10, that allow parts, such as
a chute, to be lowered to a barge or service vehicle, 22.
19. The use of a floating shiploader system to eliminate ship movements
relative to the shiploader
due to tides to minimize product degradation and optimize energy usage through
reduced
differential heights. It also minimizes line-handling.
20. The use of a floating structure to minimise downtime interruption during
construction on
brown-field sites.
21. The use of the building with structural integrity to resist berthing,
wind, wave, swell, and ocean
current loads, and to locate and support the pontoons that in turn support the
weight of the
building.
22. The shape of the pontoons that minimize the effect of swell.
23. The use of a floating structure to minimise noise and marine ecology
degradation, facilitate end-
of-life planning and mitigate other environmental effects of piled structures.
24. Use of building to further minimize fugitive dust.
25. The ability to use the same facility to load both un-geared vessels, 14,
on Figures through 5, as
well as geared vessels, 17, on Figure 5 and Figure 6.
26. The ability to load geared vessels more rapidly by adding fixed or
retractable stand-offs, 18 on
Figure 6, on port side to allow ship's gear, 30, to be directed port side away
from loading boom,
15.
27. A shiploader design that, using to features described above, is relatively
immune to building
deflections resulting from berthing, wind, wave, swell, and ocean current
loads.
Drawings
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Date Recue/Date Received 2020-06-09

Description

Inclement weather ship loading system for bulk materials
Background
Bulk products, such as coal, ore, concentrates and agricultural products, are
often loaded in ocean-going
vessels known as bulk carriers. These vessels vary in size of cargo they can
transport, typically ranging
from ¨20,000 tonnes to ¨250,000 tonnes. Smaller vessels often have ship's
gear, or cranes, to assist in
offloading the product at the destination port, and typically have folding
hatch covers. The larger
vessels, typically above 60,000 dead weight tonnes (DWT), are wider and
longer, may have greater
drafts, and often have sliding hatch covers and no ship's gear.
Some products, such as grain, cement, and fertilizer, cannot be loaded during
inclement weather such as
heavy downpours of rain, snow, or hail. Most bulk carrier vessels cannot be
loaded during high wind for
three main reasons ¨ large ocean swells, environmental containment of dust
and, most importantly,
shiploader design limitations related to maximum wind-speed for allowable
operation. Most
international shiploader design standards set the maximum operating wind-speed
at approximately 20
m/s, though a lesser wind-speed is typically set for inclement weather-type
shiploaders because of the
large wind areas associated with the weather covers, or tents, as they are
sometimes called.
The ability to load a vessel during inclement weather is of significant
benefit, particularly when
moisture, in the form of rain, snow, hail or ice, may compromise the product.
In this case the enhanced
ability allows for greater utilization of the port facility, with potential
for significant cost savings, and
improved reliability.
Numerous unsuccessful attempts have been made in the past to design
shiploaders that can load in such
conditions. This invention addresses those well-known issues.
Successful recent developments in Europe have used large offshore buildings to
trans-ship items such as
paper and containers. In these facilities, ocean-going vessels enter the
building and are then loaded or
unloaded using conventional harbour cranes or overhead travelling cranes.
In Canada, agricultural bulk products such as grain, wheat, and fertilizers
are regularly loaded into bulk
vessels in ports off the East and West Coasts where wind-blown rain is a
significant problem. This
invention addresses that problem in a safe, minimally intrusive,
environmentally friendly and
economical manner.
Typical all weather shiploaders are shown, for example, in the following
patent and patent applications:
Brazilian Patent BRMU8802927U2 Marchiorato
US Patent U5005778815A Shields
Canadian Patent Application CA 2699009 McLachlan
Canadian Patent Application CA 2799118 ' Sorensen
Japanese Patent Application JP2017052418A Okabe
International Patent Application WO 2014/140302 Al Pletz
US Patent U5005154561A Lee
Date Recue/Date Received 2020-06-09

Despite a need for an inclement bulk shiploader, none of the present systems
have been extensively
used, and improvements are therefore needed.
Description
Referring to Figure 1, a building, 1, supports a novel shiploading system that
consists of the following
components: a cantilevered feed conveyor, 2, running parallel to the vessel
being loaded; a
longitudinally travelling bridge, 3; and longitudinally travelling conveyor
tripper, 4. The tripper optionally
has a towing arm, 19, that synchronizes it's movement to that of a specialized
overhead travelling crane,
5. The crane supports a laterally movable trolley, 6, which in turn supports
the bulk product loading
boom, 15.
The loading boom, 15, receives bulk product from the receiving conveyor
tripper, 4. The boom is
supported on pivots near the medial location by the bridge, 3.
The boom supports the product loading spout, 8. The position of the spout is
variable, and its traverse
range is made sufficient to cover the required hatch width of the design range
of vessels. When the
spout is moved to the end of its range at the distal end of the boom, and the
boom is pivoted upwards,
the spout is moved to position 8A. In this position the spout can be
maintained, using maintenance
facilities, 10, safely accessible within the roof upper structure. Optionally,
also located on the crane
bridge structure is one or more spout trolleys, 9.
The maintenance facilities, 10, optionally include one or more service hoists
capable of lowering items
to barge or other transfer vehicle.
The building may be supported on piles and pile-caps, but in the preferred
embodiment is supported on
pontoon floats, 11A and 11B. Said building, 1, may be constructed as one
complete floating pontoon,
the full length of the building, but in the preferred embodiment would be
built in a number of stable
modules that can be towed to the site for anchoring. The port float, item 11A,
is competently connected
to the starboard float, item 11B, with sufficient strength to accept all
loads, including inter-alia berthing,
wind, wave, swell, and ocean current loads.
Energy absorbing fender systems, items 12A and 12B, are appropriately spaced
down the length of the
pontoons. In the preferred embodiment, fender systems have a low friction
covering. The distance
between fenders 12A and 12B inside faces depends on location-specific
requirements, though in the
preferred embodiment is equal to or greater than the width of the New Panama
Canal, i.e. ¨55 m fender
face to fender face.
Critically, fender 12B is located sufficiently far from starboard pontoon 11B
to protect the vessel from
contacting the parked shiploader boom, 15.
Tugboats, 16, can assist mooring where necessary. Alternatively, mechanical
means such as mooring
winches may be employed to assist mooring. Bollards, optionally with quick-
release hooks, allow the
vessel to be securely tied to the pontoons during loading.
A key requirement is that the building is made sufficiently high and wide to
allow the full range of design
vessels to be safely serviced, as shown in Figure 2, where, in this case, the
limiting clearance, 20, is the
gap between the boom, 15, and the flying bridge on the vessel, 14.
Date Recue/Date Received 2020-06-09

Figure 3 shows the loading boom lowered on its pivots, 29 on Figure 8, to a
nearly horizontal working
position on a light vessel. Dependent on vessel size and ballasted condition,
the starting position may be
with the boom at any angle from slightly raised to slightly lowered. The
pivotable operating angle will
depend on the bulk material being loaded, typically, though not necessarily,
between about -16 degrees
and + 16 degrees. The transverse and longitudinal position of the spout, 8, is
achieved by a combination
of longitudinal travel and horizontal traverse. The inclination of the boom
allows the operating length of
the spout to be minimized. This is critical for loading certain bulk materials
such as potassium chloride
(muriate of potash, or simply potash) where dust generation and product
degradation are both
important considerations. This requirement is well understood by those skilled
in the art of handling
potash.
Figure 4 shows the loading boom lowered on its pivots to allow an almost fully
loaded vessel to be
loaded with minimal material drop height.
Figure 5 shows a geared vessel, 17, berthed port side, with the ship's gears
facing starboard side.
Figure 6 shows a geared vessel berthed port side, at the required standoff,
18, to allow the ship's gear,
19, to face port side.
Dust control and/or soft-loading telescopic spouts are used in the preferred
embodiment, for example
the Cleveland Cascade Spout TM, 8, with or without rotating trimmer.
Figure 7 shows the general arrangement of the overall loading system. In this
arrangement both ends of
the building remain open. In alternative arrangements, one or both ends of the
building may be fully or
partially closed using tension supported "curtains".
The embodiments of the invention which are disclosed, but in which NO
exclusive
property or privilege is claimed.
1. Building with translucent sheeting to enhance marine environment.
2. Building with suspended submerged ropes outside of the navigation
channel to enhance marine
environment.
3. Overhead travelling crane.
4. Telescoping cascade spout.
5. Endless conveyor moveable head on shiploader boom.
6. Telescoping boom section, where appropriate.
Date Recue/Date Received 2020-06-09

Representative Drawing