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The Bristol Bulk Terminal is a common user facility able to offer competitive services to importers of bulk products wishing to distribute over a wide area of the UK. The Terminal has capacity to handle additional throughput.
In 1991 a joint venture with National Power (now RWE npower) was formed to develop modern coal handling. This facility opened in 1993 and has a discharge capability of up to 4,000 tonnes per hour. In addition, both BPC and RWE npower have invested in improvements to the rail infrastructure. The total investment is in excess of £120 million.
Physical Parameters
The Bristol Bulk Terminal can receive Cape size ships up to 130,000 tonnes deadweight. Royal Portbury Dock has the largest entrance lock into any UK port accommodating vessels up to 41m beam, 290m length and 14.5m arrival draft.
The largest vessel docked to date was the St John, 128,000 deadweight with a cargo of 111,308 tonnes.
At Avonmouth Docks, ships up to 40,000 deadweight can be accommodated. The Avonmouth lock allows vessels of up to 28m beam, 210m length and 11m draught.
Ship to Shore Equipment
The Bulk Terminal at Portbury
Ship discharge at Portbury is carried out with two Kone continuous ship unloaders (CSUs) and two Kone gantry grab cranes.
Each Kone CSU has a peak capacity of 2,000 tonnes per hour and the Kone gantry grab crane has a peak capacity of 1,200 tonnes per hour.
Use of CSUs ensures the minimum of dust and spillage that is consistent with the high environmental protection standard of the terminal as a whole.
Current total ship discharge capacity is 7 million tonnes per year.
Avonmouth Facility
A recently delivered Gottwald HSK 260 Harbour Crane can discharge up to 10,000 tonnes per day. The berth is rail connected with an adjacent 30,000 tonnes storage area.
Stockyard
The Portbury stockyard has a capacity of 600,000 tonnes. Up to ten trains per day can be loaded in the stockyard, supplementing the capacity of the existing Avonmouth rail terminal which is connected to Portbury by a conveyor tunnel.
Avonmouth Rail Terminal
The Avonmouth rail terminal is linked to the Portbury stockyard by a conveyor system under the River Avon and has two 2,500 te rapid loading bunkers. Trains are pulled under the bunkers at a steady 1 km/hr and a 1,750 te train is loaded under fully automatic control in 36 minutes. The terminal is now loading the new 102 te hopper wagons currently being brought into service by EW&S Railways.
Contacts
For further information, please call
Martin Downey on +44 (0)117 982 0000
