Raw Cane Sugar in Bulk Containers
Page 53
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Lail Tractors Haul Twin Containers on Trailers on a Shuttle Service from Liverpool Docks to Tate and Lyle Refinery RAW sugar in bulk is now being shipped to Liverpool from front the merane-pro dock to he Tate a Lyle po
and transported o i refinery, a distance of 11 miles. The vessels bringing these bulk cargoes are discharged at a special berth equipped with Four electric cranes mounted on rails to enable them to be placed to suit the hatch openings of any vessel. Grabs capable of holding 21 tons are used to lift the sugar from the holds of the ship and to discharge it into 25-ton hoppers, which also run on rails.
This development in bulk shipment raised fundamental problems in road transport. Formerly, all raw sugar was received in bags, the annual tonnage approximating to 600,000. This was transported by a fleet of tractors, each working three or four trailers. The fleet now had to be capable of operating on all bulk cargoes. on all bagged cargoes, or a mixture of both bulk and bagged loads in varying proportions. Furthermore, it must be capable of switching at short notice from one type of cargo to another to maintain the refinery intake of up to 2,500 tons in eight hours, and as full use as possible had to be made of the existing vehicles.
The problem was solved by the technical staff of the Liverpool refinery, who designed and developed special box containers, which can be easily mounted on existing trailers when bulk cargoes are worked, and can be quickly removed when raw sugar in bags has to be transported. They were constructed by the Airscrew Co. and Jicwood,. Ltd.. Weybriclge.
These boxes, each containing about 6 tons of sugar. are mounted in pairs on trailers drawn. by Lad! tractors. They are run under the hoppers at the dock and filled through four valves. A pair of boxes can be filled in less than a minute with free-running sugar.
The boxes are built for lightness, having a laminated wooden frame covered with plywood on the inside and aluminium-faced plywood on the outside. An aluminium lid encloses the filling aperture, which runs the length of the box. The load is self-discharged by way of sidc doors operated by compressed air and is delivered into an underground conveyor at the refinery. Twelve tons of freerunning sugar can be discharged in a minute.
[The transport organization and vehicle-maintenance arrangements of Tate and Lyle Ltd.. in the southern half of England were described in The 'Commercial Motor on December 15 and 22. 1950.]