Replacing shiploaders at Carrington Terminal - phase 1
BigLift Shipping has continued its specialist mining industry role in Australia by completing delivery and removal of its 34th shiploader/ship-unloader/reclaimer mid 2017.
For client Sandvik Mining and Construction (Australia) BigLift delivered two new shiploaders, and removed three existing ones at Port Waratah Coal Services’ (PWCS) Carrington Terminal in Newcastle, Australia.
First stage
The shipping contract was signed in June 2015 and the first stage of the project was completed in July 2016. This involved the delivery of two new shiploaders, and the removal of an existing one. With this work Happy Buccaneer continued her remarkable involvement in Australia’s resource industry –developments which have been more or less ongoing since 1986. Due to the size of the new machines (700 tonnes) Happy Buccaneer used her tweendeck hatch covers as deck extensions on the weather deck. In this way one of the shiploaders could be driven aft on specially installed rails. After having been lifted on board, the first shiploader was safely pulled passed the Happy Buccaneer’s Crane 2, with centimetres to spare, to reach its sea passage position. The second shiploader was loaded in between Cranes 1 and 2. At Newcastle the discharging sequence was reversed.
Uninterrupted operations
One of the unique requirements of this job was that the PWCS loading facility needed to remain active before and after the delivery of the new machines. To achieve this, the existing Shiploader 3 was decommissioned and prepared for shipping prior to delivery of the new shiploaders. The actual delivery and removal were then carried out during a scheduled maintenance shutdown. Once the operation was completed, PWCS could then continue loading coal onto vessels with the remaining shiploaders 1 and 2 whilst the new shiploaders were commissioned and brought into service.
Rounding off
Then, the existing shiploaders 1 and 2 were decommissioned and prepared for shipping. The second stage of the contract was the removal of these shiploaders which was conducted in February 2017 and performed by Happy Delta, as at 418 mt the shiploaders were well within the ship’s capacity. Click here to learn more about this project.