Many shiploading or unloading ports are faced with problems such as congestion, no land for expansion, and costly outdated infrastructure. Ports confronted with these problems must search for new and creative solutions to handle them. An ideal solution is to move bulk handling operations — including shiploading — to the water, with barge mounted E-Cranes.
up and down along with the material barges and ships when the water elevation changes. This means that the cycle of picking material out of the barge or loading ships is never affected by water fluctuation. The operator never has to adjust to this fluctuation and no cycle time is added compensating for varying water levels. Additionally, an E-Crane being installed on a barge or pontoon can be built and tested locally and then floated to its final destination. This eliminates costs and difficulties of local logistics and marine construction. Also, a floating terminal can be moved and located at the closest point suitable for the end user, optimizing the set-up, making bulk handling faster and more efficient. The complete terminal can also be relocated quickly and cost effectively if required, because of the modular concept. A PROVEN SOLUTION The E-Crane is designed specifically for barge- and shiploading and unloading, and is a proven and trusted solution in many bulk material handling industries. Most dedicated systems for offloading coal, limestone and other bulk materials are costly, inflexible, and require an expensive, hard to maintain infrastructure. E-Crane’s versatility, reliability and flexibility allows for tailor-made material handling solutions. These custom
JUNE 2014
BALANCED DESIGN IDEAL FOR BARGE MOUNTING An E-Crane distinguishes itself by being a fully balanced heavy duty crane. The E-Crane design is based on an ingenious parallelogram style boom that provides a direct mechanical connection between the counterweight and the load. This unique four-bar mechanism system ensures that the E-Crane remains in near perfect balance throughout its working range. This unique feature results in an important economic advantage as an E-Crane requires approximately 50% less power consumption compared to competitive cranes, whose counterweights are fixed or only linked to the boom and not the load. Along with the significant energy savings that a balanced design provides, it makes the E-Crane ideal for mounting on a floating barge. Because the crane is balanced, the movement of the E-Crane causes very minimal listing and movement of the barge. A barge-mounted crane is also beneficial because it floats
ENGINEERING & EQUIPMENT
Floating E-Cranes expand bulk handling capacity on the water
DCi 59