LOADING SHIPS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 309, 30 December 1940, Page 4

LOADING SHIPS.

MODERN EQUIPMENT.

Modern plant has been installed at Nauru Island for the fast loading of ships. It is regarded as a triumph of British engineering skill. After taking possession from the Pacific Phosphate Company in 1919, the British Phosphate Commission placed an order with Henry Simon, Limited, of Manchester, for the construction of a huge cantilever from which the phosphate can be discharged direct into the holds of ships moored beneath it. The device was completed in September, 1930, after just ov#r three years' work. It consists of two immense steel truss arms, each mounted upon a high concrete tower standing on the edge of'the reef. The arms are 172 ft long,„with an extension giving a total length of 200 ft. The steel trusses extend rearward, supporting the huge counterweights, and the whole structure can be traversed horizontally. Ships are hauled in and moored under the end of the cantilevers by an elaborate system of hawsers and buoys, which can be slipped instantly if required. The ends of the two arms are swung over separate holds, steel pipes 2ft in diameter are lowered from them, and phosphate is poured out at the rate of 1000 tons an hour.