Stockyard and Port operation
Cape Preston is where Sino Iron’s magnetite concentrate is exported to its customers in Asia. It’s a shallow port with 12 outer anchorages and five inner anchorages, which necessitate that cargo being transhipped to Cape and Mini Cape vessels. The port uses a combination of methods to tranship cargo onto Ocean Going Vessels (OGVs) to a point where the port on a regular basis loads up to 100 thousand tonnes per day onto OGVs.
Transhipping, exporting
Port Preston is the Pilbara’s first greenfield port to be built in more than 40 years - unlike traditional iron ore ports which require deep water channels to accommodate the massive tidal movements of the region, we use a transhipment method. A first in Western Australia, transhipment sees the product first loaded onto barges or a TSV at the loading berth along the breakwater. The barges are then towed offshore where a Transhipper reclaims product from the barges and loads product onto larger OGVs. The TSVs are purpose built self-propelled vessels which use a gravity reclaiming system and a single point loading system to load the OGVs.
Stacking, ready for transport
The concentrate is stockpiled using two mobile rail-mounted stackers, each with a capacity of 4,000 tonnes per hour. The stockyard is made up of eight stockpiles with a combined capacity of up to 1.2 million tonnes per year.
The product is then reclaimed with automated rail-mounted reclaimers which are capable of reclaiming concentrate at a rate of 7,000-8,000 tonnes per hour. It’s then transported via a 4.4km conveyor system to the barge loading berth from where the cargo is loaded onto Transhipment Shuttle Self-unloading Vessel (TSV) or barges.
The product is then reclaimed with automated rail-mounted reclaimers which are capable of reclaiming concentrate at a rate of 7,000-8,000 tonnes per hour. It’s then transported via a 4.4km conveyor system to the barge loading berth from where the cargo is loaded onto Transhipment Shuttle Self-unloading Vessel (TSV) or barges.
Facts and figures
- The stockyard is approximately 1.1km long and 250m wide.
- The two stackers each have a capacity of 4,000 tonnes of concentrate per hour.
- The reclaimer has a nominal concentrate reclaim rate of 8,100 tonnes per hour and a peak claim rate of 10,500 tonnes per hour.
- The breakwater itself is 3.1km long.
- Approximately 10,500 Core-Loc units are individually placed around the breakwater, which is designed to be able to refract the wave energy generated by a one in 100-year cyclone event.
- Four barges are used, with carrying capacity ranging from 12,000 to 14,000 tonnes each.
- Four tugs are used, with bollard pull of 72 tonnes each.
- The transhipper and TSV have a concentrate outload capacity of 3,000 to 3,800 tonnes per hour each.
- 12 CITIC purpose-built vessels, with a capacity of 115,000 tonnes each, transport the concentrate to China.
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