STORAGE

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Processing and throughput evolved

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Bakhresa port grain depot

by Tim Hartford Cross, International Project Manager and Connor Thompson, Design Draftsman, Griffith Elder

bulk wheat cargo vessel carrying hundreds of thousands of tonnes of grain from Russia reaches its destination at the Dar Es Salaam port. Some 500 metres away, the Bakhresa grain-handling site prepares for the large wheat intake. The new facility at Kurasini has been operational for some months now and consists of five silos, totaling 60000 Tonnes capacity. With only three days to offload the grain from the vessel, the peak flow rate of 1200 Tonnes per hour must be consistently reached. This speed of offloading is achieved using four side-by-side Griffith Elder Weighbridges, each with separate intake lanes. Bakhresa’s site has a fleet of 40 brand new wheat trucks designed for this exact purpose. Each truck has a capacity of around 25 tonnes and can complete the entire weighing and offloading process in only five minutes. The loading and unloading of each vehicle is done on the weighbridge to save time. As the trucks arrive at the weighbridge, the drivers present a preprogrammed RFID tag to identify themselves. Each tag contains the details of the shipment, including contract number, type of goods and many other bespoke details. These details are stored as a ticket within the Ton Tel software along with the fully loaded weight of the vehicle. 56 | October 2015 - Milling and Grain

The vehicle can then offload the grain onto the elevators and conveyors that will distribute out to the relative silos. Once empty, the vehicle is weighed again. This records the empty weight of the vehicle and calculates a net weight value to add to each ticket. The driver terminal produces a small printout for the driver showing the weight information, as he is paid based on the amount of grain offloaded. The whole system is fully automatic using Griffith Elder’s Ton-Tel Software and the operator is only needed to clarify information with the drivers, if necessary. The Ton Tel Software contains an extremely versatile reporting function, allowing managers to generate reports based on vehicle, store, date or any other information found on the tickets. As well as summary reports, the software can be programmed to send reports automatically via email at scheduled times. This allows the manager to know exactly what is happening on site at any time. To avoid operator error, authorisation levels with password protection can be set within the software to allow different levels of access for operators, managers and administrators. Once the grain has been offloaded, the grain handling is carried out by Buhler conveyors and elevators and directed from the control room to the selected silo. During this process the grain is sieved to remove the fine dust and large foreign bodies from the grain. As the port repeatedly takes shipments from all over the