After 21 years of service, more than a half-mile of conveyor belt that had become a little ragged around the edges was replaced in the Port of Morehead City's Bulk Handling department in less than a week, with no time lost in operations.
The belt is a key component of bulk operations at the Port. PCS Phosphate, a Port customer for nearly 40 years, barges fertilizer to the Port from its plant in Aurora, N.C. The conveyor system moves it, at 490 feet a minute, from the barges to be stored in the two large A-frame warehouses, then across Highway 70 to be loaded onto ships for export. More than 1.1 million tons of phosphate products were handled at the Port in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2006.
The conveyor belt is 5 feet wide, and 2,871.5 feet from end to end. The replacement belt came n two huge rolls, each weighing more than 11 tons, and was manufactured by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., also a customer of the Port.
The replacement project was almost entirely an in-house job, with Bulk Handling mechanics and crane operators working together.
"Port mechanics did all the prep work for this project, which included removing siding from the building and removing the covers and rollers to install the new belt," said Paul Rickman, Bulk Handling supervisor. "The job was completed in less than one week and was scheduled during time between ship calls. With everyone workingtogether, the project went very well and we had a seamless operation."
The conveyor belt was installed by Bulk Handling mechanics David Taylor, Harry Brown, Danny Sowers and Woody Hancock.
The only outside contractor involved in the job was Lewis-Goetz & Co. of Rocky Mount, N.C., which provided a specialized machine that pulls A mobile crane operated by the Port of Morehead City’s crane depart-ment holds a roll of new conveyer belt at the east end of the Port’s A-frame to remove the old belt. The truck-mounted “belt- tugger” also contains vulcanizing equipment to splice the two rolls together.
Crane operators David Howland and Waddell Johnson performed all the heavy crane lifts for prep as well as for installation. The Port’s mobile crane suspended the new belt during the vulcanizing process as the belt tugger pulls the old belt off and pulls the new belt on at the same time.
The whole job included one day for prep work, two and a half days for the installation - which included removing the old belt, placing the new belt, and splicing the two sections - and one day to clean up: replacing rollers and covers on the belt and siding on the building.
The conveyor belt system was then tested by the mechanics, and Bulk Handling was back in business in time to load 36,000 tons of PCS Phosphate fertilizer onto the Clipper Kikushio June 28.
Morehead City, NC
Morehead City replaces half-mile-long conveyor
by Susan Pridgen, Communications
After 21 years of service, more than a half-mile of conveyor belt that had become a little ragged around the edges was replaced in the Port of Morehead City's Bulk Handling department in less than a week, with no time lost in operations.
The belt is a key component of bulk operations at the Port. PCS Phosphate, a Port customer for nearly 40 years, barges fertilizer to the Port from its plant in Aurora, N.C. The conveyor system moves it, at 490 feet a minute, from the barges to be stored in the two large A-frame warehouses, then across Highway 70 to be loaded onto ships for export. More than 1.1 million tons of phosphate products were handled at the Port in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2006.
The conveyor belt is 5 feet wide, and 2,871.5 feet from end to end. The replacement belt came n two huge rolls, each weighing more than 11 tons, and was manufactured by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., also a customer of the Port.
The replacement project was almost entirely an in-house job, with Bulk Handling mechanics and crane operators working together.
"Port mechanics did all the prep work for this project, which included removing siding from the building and removing the covers and rollers to install the new belt," said Paul Rickman, Bulk Handling supervisor. "The job was completed in less than one week and was scheduled during time between ship calls. With everyone workingtogether, the project went very well and we had a seamless operation."
The conveyor belt was installed by Bulk Handling mechanics David Taylor, Harry Brown, Danny Sowers and Woody Hancock.
The only outside contractor involved in the job was Lewis-Goetz & Co. of Rocky Mount, N.C., which provided a specialized machine that pulls A mobile crane operated by the Port of Morehead City’s crane depart-ment holds a roll of new conveyer belt at the east end of the Port’s A-frame to remove the old belt. The truck-mounted “belt- tugger” also contains vulcanizing equipment to splice the two rolls together.
Crane operators David Howland and Waddell Johnson performed all the heavy crane lifts for prep as well as for installation. The Port’s mobile crane suspended the new belt during the vulcanizing process as the belt tugger pulls the old belt off and pulls the new belt on at the same time.
The whole job included one day for prep work, two and a half days for the installation - which included removing the old belt, placing the new belt, and splicing the two sections - and one day to clean up: replacing rollers and covers on the belt and siding on the building.
The conveyor belt system was then tested by the mechanics, and Bulk Handling was back in business in time to load 36,000 tons of PCS Phosphate fertilizer onto the Clipper Kikushio June 28.
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