Handling Of Bulk Wheat
By the end of July at the earliest, but more likely by about the middle of August, the Timaru Harbour Board should have new permanent facilities for handling bulk wheat shipments through the port. The total cost of the new facilities is expected to be about £25,000.
An engineer of the board, Mr B. W. Tierney, who is looking after this project, said this week that an order had been placed for two corrugated galvanised steel silos each with a capacity of 625 tons. These silos will each be 36ft in diameter and will have an over-all height of 32ft
They will be located on the north mole and there will be provision for expansion of these facilities should this be warranted in the future. The silos will be mechanically loaded and will have a discharge rate into ships of up to 200 tons an hour. It will be possible for motor trucks or railway waggons to unload into the silos. Trucks will tip into a dump hopper and from there the wheat will be elevated to the top of the silo. It is intended that the silos should be used only for interim storage of wheat before arrival of ships. There will be no drying facilities and it is not expected that wheat will be held for longer than four or five days. No tender has yet been accepted for mechanical handling equipment to go along
with the silos and Mr Tierney said this week that of the foundations, provision of the silos and the handling equipment, the handling equipment would be by far the most expensive item. Bulk wheat is already being handled through the port on a temporary basis. Depending on the state of the tide wheat has been loaded directly into ships with trucks tipping from a ramp down a chute. The Northern Steamship Company also has two 25-tons an hour mechanical handling units that operate on a suction principle. A reflection of changing conditions, two units used for unloading of Australian wheat in the days not so long ago when wheat was imported into Tirnaru are now standing idle.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31333, 1 April 1967, Page 8
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358Handling Of Bulk Wheat Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31333, 1 April 1967, Page 8
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