BULK HANDLING May/june-1998

WORLD MACHINE
Port equipment manufacturer VIGAN, has installations working in more than 80 countries across the worlds five continents. Having earned its reputation as a specialist in ship unloaders, VIGAN has completed more than 1.500 installations worldwide and looks like going from strength to strength.

Ports and terminals have passed from trade barriers into trade gateways. They were considered as performing a function and are now considered as part of a logistic chain from the raw materials suppliers to the end user. The ultimate goal is to allow shippers to deliver the right product on the manufacturing or retail floor at the right time and at the right price.

The competition is open between all the actors working in the logistic chain. The spectacular and most visible change is the scale increase in vessels sizes. Technical innovations in the port equipment has contributed to the unexpected, radical and revolutionary change in the ship unloading and loading operations in ports and quick ship turn around.

Belgian-based port equipment manufacturer Vigan has its installations working in more than 80 countries across the world’s five continents and the company manufacturers its systems from concept to completion.

On the same industrial site at Nivelles in Belgium are located the Vigan design and engineering offices, workshops and maintenance and after sales services. Here, Vigan customers can find all the information they need, says the company, to concentrate on the best and most cost effective method of obtaining port equipment with easy maintenance for reliable and safe, long term operations.

The main specialities of Vigan are ship loader and unloader construction, the up-grading and refurbishing of terminals and silos machinery. The company earns 90% of its US$ 20m turnover from exporting to more than 80 world markets.

Vigan offers a large range of pneumatic ship unloading equipment which can handled from 60 tonnes an hour to 600 tonnes an hour with one pipe and 1.200 tonnes an hour with two pipes. The company has earned its reputation as a specialist in ship unloaders for difficult, fragile and abrasive products with more than 6,000 successful installations worldwide.

Vigan’s cargo applications are very large : food products, chemicals and raw materials are handled. The Vigan ship unloader recently achieved spectacular performances, says the company, on handling a difficult food products, cocoa beans.

The chemical and related industries use Vigan ship unloaders for the unloading of soda ash, alumina, stoker coal, fine coal, silica sand, petro coke, black carbon, plastic granules, urea in prills and other chemicals and raw materials.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN EUROPE AND OTHER CONTINENTS

Europe
Massive new opportunities with few environmental and traffic constraints exist in the development of European fluvial-maritime transport and cargo handling along inland rivers and waterways.

New mills are taking these opportunities and installing Vigan unloading facilities along the Rhine, the Seine rivers and along canals and ports in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland and other countries connected to the European waterways.

Along the river Rhine new mills have invested in Vigan pneumatic ship unloaders. Jungbunzblauer from Austria is discharging maize in Markholsheim. Cargill and Société Des Malteries d’Alsace , owned by the Soufflet group, is unloading cereals through Vigan barge ship unloaders.

On the Seine river in Paris, three different flour mills have very recently invested in Vigan static ship unloaders. They are : Les Grands Moulins de Paris in Gennevilliers, Les Grands Moulins de Corbeil and Les Grands Moulins de Pantin.

On the Pechiney quay in the port of Dunkirk, Vigan is operating an alumina and petro coke ship unloader for Aluminium Dunkerque , which is producing aluminium using nuclear power electricity from the installations of Gravelines.

Vigan is currently working on a new barley and malt pneumatic unloading installation in Leuven, Belgium, centre of the Interbrew Stella Artois brewery. A mechanical ship loader, destined for Ostend, Belgium has been commissioned from Vigan by a fertiliser subsidiary company of BASF of Germany.

At the polish grain terminal of Ewa in the port of Szczecin , a Vigan NIV type for grain and soya bean meal was commissioned in January 1998. The grain terminal had previously used a mechanical unloader but after this experience came to the conclusion that a Vigan NIV pneumatic ship unloader was the most appropriate system to unload soya bean meal and grain. Vigan has also supplied a mobile unloading installation to the Ewa port.

Recently, Vigan won the international tender for a mechanical ship loader at the polish port of Gdynia.

The Netherlands has invested in a new Vigan unloading installation along its famous canals. Cargill has a new maize operation and a Vigan tower in Bergen-op-zoom. The Heineken brewery has a new malt installation and a new Vigan tower in ‘s Hertoge-bosch.

Vigan has innovated in unloading cocoa beans in bulk through a perfectly adapted pneumatic ship unloader for Gerkens Cacao , a subsidiary company of Cargill. Sampling cocoa beans by the receiver has show that there is no bean breakage during the Vigan unloading process.

In Germany a new Vigan ship unloader has been erected on the canal crossing the town of Krefeld and has been in operation from the beginning of 1998. It has a capacity of 300 tonnes an hour and the customer, the German Company Cerestar AG , is a member of the Cerestar group owned by the Beghin-Say company.

Two Vigan mobile units equipped with special filters will be in operation in a very short time in the port of Rijeka in Croatia for the discharge of all kinds of cereals. Within three months a new Vigan ship unloader will be erected in the port of Crotone in Italy.

Central America
In Central America a Vigan pneumatic unloader with a capacity of 200 tonnes an hour and mounted on rails gantry has been in operation from January 1998 at La Habana harbour. Union Molinera, for which the unloader has been installed, has already ordered another similar ship unloader and two mobile machines for Santiago de Cuba . By the end 1998, a third large size Vigan equipment will be installed at Cienfuegos port.

South America
A new mobile unit will be delivered in Colombia and will be commissioned in the port of Santa Maria. A ship unloader has been supplied in the port of Santos for the company Moinho Pacifico. Every year regular orders have been received from well know South America companies.

Africa
A mobile unit was recently supplied in the port of Abidjan for Les Grands Moulins d’Abidjan. An order for two supplementary units has been already placed for the same port.

Asia
A Vigan ship unloader with a mobile unit have been commissioned in the port of Batangas. The machines will be mounted on a support on wheels and are operating for the discharge of bulk products transported inside containers. 20 mobile units have been delivered in the port of Basrah for the discharge of grain under the United Nations program. A new mobile unit is now on its way to the port of Istanbul in Turkey. Other new types of equipment are now being manufactured to suit the demand of the world-wide operators.

Since this paper publication many others VIGAN machines were delivered.

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Copyright © 2002 VIGAN Engineering S.A.

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