Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

This blog will not add any value by recording reflections but it is one I thought might be reasonably interesting given Peter’s enthusiastic reaction to my last big lift photo in blog 7, DO heaven.

This is one of two 600T £7M Siwertell Container Ship Unloader’s (CSU’s) designed in Sweden, constructed in Italy and delivered to Immingham last week, being lifted off the transport ship by the two on-board 400T cranes. The whole operation went well and the ship off loaded the 2 systems and all ancillary parts in 3 days before departing a day ahead of schedule to Amsterdam (who wouldn’t?!).

CSU No 1 is lifted from the hold.

CSU No 2 is prepared for lifting.

These are quite interesting pieces of engineering and are based on the Archimedes Screw principle designed in the 3rd century BC. The rail mounted screw conveyor is an Archimedes screw contained within a tube and turned by a motor so as to deliver the biomass wood pellets from the ships hold to the conveyor system leading to the RC storage silos. This dramatically reduces the amount of labour, energy, spillage, explosive dust and importantly discharge time when compared to the conventional cranes. Whilst initially expensive the discharge time is effectively halved meaning double the amount of biomass ships can be unloaded in a given time increasing ABP’s profit. I expect that they will pay for themselves in a reasonably short space of time. Whilst the image below from Siwertells website is not the greatest quality it shows exactly how the system works.

Due to my discoveries during the trail hole excavations at the sub-station there has been a delay whilst the redesign takes place and thus the CSUs have become my focus for the last week or so. This has involved a number of snagging type tasks from clearance and inspections of the rail lines that the CSUs will travel on through to the positioning, drilling and placing of the storm locks and rail clamps that guide the CSU and secure them during a North Sea battering.