World Grain - October 2008 - 32

FEATURE: SEEKING GREATER EFFICIENCY

[NATURE

[HUMAN RESOURCES
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[TECHNOLOGY

Port Terminals

Cimbria values
* Global project experience - local cooperation
* Total project management
* Experts in turnkey supply
* One contractor - one responsible
company
Technical features
* Customized innovative solutions
* Design & engineering
* Ship loaders and unloaders
* Conveying systems
* High capacity cleaning
* Drying systems
* Silo & storage systems
* Temperature monitoring systems
* Control & automation systems
* Installation, commisioning & training
* After sales service

CIMBRIA UNIGRAIN A/S
Praestejorden 6 · DK-7700 Thisted
Tel.: +45 9617 9000 · Fax +45 9617 9299
www.cimbria.com · unigrain@cimbria.com
Cimbria is an international company with approx. 500
employees. Cimbria has subsidiaries and branch offices in
Denmark, Norway, England, Ireland, Germany, France,
Holland, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Kenya, Russia,
Ukraine, India, Thailand, Malaysia and China.

World wide service and maintenance

wheat protein and ash content. Buhler said blending facilities
are necessary to reduce fluctuations during the tempering and
milling process.
The Swiss company believes this method of shipping will
continue to be a niche market. For large grain volumes, it is
problematic to have storage facilities off site, Buhler said. It
noted that transporting grain via container requires road/rail
transportation, thus it loses the economic advantage over standard shipping methods. It added that this method is also only
suitable for areas or ports where a container surplus exists.
VIGAN said it has noted a growing interest for this kind of
transport, but that the company is not directly in touch with
this market because the filling and the emptying of the containers with pneumatic machines is not necessary. VIGAN
sees this method for transporting grain as cyclical and a geographically isolated trend.
While containerized shipping allows small quantities of
grain to be shipped economically, Neuero said the big question is whether it will be a long-lasting trend. A change in
trade balance between the U.S., E.U. and Asia would adversely
affect this type of shipping, it said.
For more information on containerized shipping, see the article on page 48.
PROJECTS UPDATE
In recent months, the three companies have been busy with
projects worldwide.
Buhler was chosen in 2006 as the general contractor for
the ship unloading and loading project for Société du Port à
géstion Autonome de Toamasina (SPAT) in the Port of Toamasina in Madagascar. The restructuring project also included new grain handling and storage facilities. The raw materials processed are primarily cereal grains that are imported
from all parts of the world.
Responsibility for the complete project was placed with
Buhler, with the exception of the civil engineering work,
which was overseen by local companies.
The Buhler installation included: a new mechanical ship
unloader, PORTALINO, with a rated unloading capacity of
up to 330 tph of grains from vessels up to 30,000 deadweight
tonnes (DWT); a transfer belt conveyor, which transports the
grain to the silo intake headhouse for pre-cleaning; drum
sieves and magnets for pre-cleaning; eight silo bins, each
with a diameter of 22 meters (m) and a height of 26.5 m,
which in total represents a storage capacity of 36,000 tonnes
of wheat; and a plant control system, based on the Buhler
"WinCos" Automation System.
The first phase of the project - the ship unloading, transfer installations and steel bins - was completed in September 2007. The plant has been operating successfully since its
start-up.
The second phase, which will include new storage silos for
export products, including ship loading installation, is sched-

For more information, see Page 86.

October 2008 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - October 2008

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