One of the hottest topics in cargo handling today is export coal, with work under way in many port areas to improve U.S. ability to deliver more of this commodity to the world market. At the heart of many of these improvements are bulk materials handling systems and equipment from Dravo Corporation of Pittsburgh.
On the East Coast, for example, the Massey Coal Terminal presently under construction at Newport News, Va., represents one of the first tangible responses to the problems of harbor congestion and loading delays—problems that have plagued East Coast ports since the surge in world demand for U.S. steam coal several years ago. From engineering studies to construction management, the Massey facility is all Dravo.
The Massey project involves taking a terminal built in the 1940s to handle imported iron ore and converting it into an ultra-modern coal export terminal capable of moving 10-15 million tons per year. The project involves rail car dumpers designed to unload trains of random coal cars at the rate of 5,000 tons per hour; ground storage for one million tons of coal; and a unique gravity reclaim tunnel and conveyor belt combination that will enable the facility to blend as many as eight different types of product as the coal moves into the terminal's 8,000 tons per hour traveling shiploader.
When completed in 1983, Massey will become the second high-capacity coal-handling terminal in the Newport News area to utilize Dravo's bulk materials handling technology; the other is the N&W railroad terminal at Lambert's Point, which was designed and built by Dravo Wellman.
Coal export activity on the U.S. Gulf Coast has picked up markedly as a result of the congestion at East Coast ports, and the McDuffie Terminals export facility in Mobile is a good example of a Gulf Coast port whose cargo-handling facilities are being upgraded in response to the current surge in coal exports. Originally equipped with a Dravo-built shiploader, the McDuffie terminal is currently being outfitted by Dravo with a 5,000 ton per hour, continuous barge unloader (CBU) that will double the terminal's barge-unloading capability (shown right).
Just recently, Dravo was awarded a contract to install a new rail car dumper and train positioner at McDuffie. A Dravo Wellman project, this single car dumper is designed to dump two railroad cars at a time, and will increase the terminal's unloading capacity by 50 cars per hour.
The deep drafts characteristic of U.S. West Coast ports make them ideal candidates for export coal terminals, and Dravo is involved in a number of coal-handling improvements being considered there. A tightly knit group of engineers with expertise in virtually every engineering discipline related to bulk materials handling was put together several years ago by Dravo to form a studies group to undertake studies for clients interested in exploring the feasibility of specific coal-loading facilities. These studies cover the entire spectrum of project feasibility, including capital and operating costs, financing arrangements, permit and construction approvals, and the like. Several such studies involving coal-handling improvements on the West Coast are currently under way.
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