Martin Operating Partnership

Industry
Ship Loading Sulfur

Location
Houston, Texas

Products
- 36″ x 150′ TeleStacker® Conveyor
- Portable Jump Conveyors
- Tripper Conveyor System
- Stationary Truss Frame Conveyor
- Transfer Point Towers

Project Objectives
- Capitalize on competitive advantages of inland or ocean transport
- Properly stockpile and store molten sulfur prills at a rate of 2,000 metric tons per day
- Store and stockpile large volumes of material within a defined area

Challenge
The key challenge started with engineering. The new stockpiling and conveying systems needed to be integrated with the customer’s new mechanical ship loader. Working expectations required that the system be adjustable to the varying range of capacities between vessels and their cargo holds or hatches.

Solution
Superior’s automated 150’ TeleStacker conveyor efficiently stockpiles and stores sulfur prills to be loaded onto the ships. When it is time to reclaim the prills for shipping, material is loaded into hoppers and conveyed on portable jump conveyors. The prills are then transferred to a custom engineered tripper system, which works in conjunction with the mechanical ship loader. The operation now loads 30,000 to 60,000 metric tons per ship.

Quote
“By adding automated stockpiling, conveying and loading systems, we’ve opened ourselves up to a huge number of new overseas markets,” said Keith West, project engineer for Martin Operating Partnership. “Before these systems were installed, we didn’t have that luxury.”