Associated Terminals - On-site Unloading

Handles one million tons of bauxite at Sherwin Alumina

The Sherwin Alumina plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, is one of the largest alumina processing facilities in the world with the capability of refining approximately two million tons of bauxite annually into alumina. The typical output from this process is a yield of roughly 50%, or one million tons of alumina produced annually.

In late 2007, Sherwin faced an ever increasing supply of raw materials into the plant at a time when its unloading equipment was in need of rebuilding. In order to insure the efficient transfer of bauxite while its rebuilding program was under way, Sherwin turned to Associated for a custom solution for unloading of raw materials from ocean vessel. Associated Terminals' On-Site Unloading division assessed the situation and developed a plan. The AT team proposed delivering a barge mounted Manitowoc 4600 crane, a track mounted PLM-50 crane to the Texas facility, open hopper barges and a push boat for the transfer of cargo from ship to dock, and trucking services to deliver the cargo to Sherwin’s inside storage warehouse.

The floating crane, namely the derrick barge “Danny B”, worked alongside the ocean vessels which on average carried a load of 60,000 tons of bauxite. The cargo was transferred from vessel to open hopper barge and shifted to a secondary dock. The cargo was then unloaded from barge using the PLM 50 track mounted crane for transfer to inside storage via truck. Sherwin approached Associated Terminals as a result of Associated’s successful contract operations in a similar situation for Alcoa at Point Comfort, TX. Associated served as general contractor on this project, and upon completion successfully transloaded over one million tons of Jamaican and Brazilian Bauxite from 36 ship calls. The project commenced with the “Danny B” throwing its first bucket from the M/V “Imperial Fortune” on March 16, 2008, and concluded with a final ship call on Sept. 2, 2008. Associated Terminals provided a 23-man team to this project, and worked three crew shifts, 24/7 during this time