by hausen » September 15, 2010, 6:31 pm
twinswinmh, - The time frame surrounding grain loading is a little different than other cargoes like coal or iron ore pellets, which are loaded 24/7 by Twin Ports docks. Grain loading is structured around the designated schedule of the grain trimmers (?), the people who do the work of loading a ship. Their regular loading hours are during the daytime (approx. 8am to 4 or 5pm) on weekdays. Loading a vessel outside of those boundaries (late at night, very early in the morning, on a weekend, on a major Holiday) means that the workers will be paid overtime. After-hours loading is fairly common around the Twin Ports and seems to be happening more often during the last 5-10 years. If the cargo is time sensitive or a vessel needs to get to its next destination in a hurry, a shipper will likely be willing to pay extra for speed. I believe that some terminals' tariffs (loading rules and fee schedules) state that if there is a heavy backlog of ships waiting to load, the grain terminal can force the shipper to either payout for overtime loading or force the vessel to vacate the dock so others can get in and load first.
The loading time of a week for the kinds of grain ships which visit the Twin Ports is unusually long. Loading berths with fast gallery/elevator conveyors and multiple loading spouts (CHS, Peavey, General Mills S) can usually put 10,000 - 13,000 tons of grain aboard a ship in a regular 8-9 hour work day with ideal conditions. That means that smaller oceangoing ships like most Wagenborg, BBC, Beluga, and Intersee vessels can load at one of these facilities in a day. Larger ocean ships from fleets like Fednav, Canfornav, and Polsteam load in 1.5 - 2 days. Canadian lakers load in about 2 days. Loading berths with single, fixed spouts (like General Mills A or AGP/Cap6 before it got out of the shiploading business) take a little longer - add about one full work day's worth of loading to the above times and that's about right. The loading berth attached to the B1 section of the ex-Cargill terminal in Duluth has fast gallery conveyors and two mobile loading spouts, which cut down on load time especially with longer ships because they don't have to shift along the dock to allow spouts access to different holds. Back when it was an active grain loading berth, Cargill B1 often managed to load a large saltie in one regular work day and Seawaymax Canadian lakers in a day-and-a-half or less.
lightoller, The current backlog at the Twin Ports exists because there is a steady stream of vessels arriving to load grain, and only two local terminals (with three available loading berths between them) are really loading ships right now.
That backlog will likely be enhanced by the rainy weather Duluth-Superior had today - grain can't be loaded in the rain or it will spoil - combined with the fact that three more vessels are scheduled to arrive for grain either tonight or tomorrow.
There are other reasons behind long time periods spent at anchor. When grain exports are strong some vessels arrive in port intending to take out a load but before their owners have actually found a specific cargo for them. Sometimes a vessel arrives at a loading port before its designated cargo has come in by train/truck, or before it's inspected and ready to come out of the elevator. Occasionally a vessel has to wait out the last few days of a fixed-length short-term charter that's about to expire before it can continue with its next bit of business.
[b]twinswinmh,[/b] - The time frame surrounding grain loading is a little different than other cargoes like coal or iron ore pellets, which are loaded 24/7 by Twin Ports docks. Grain loading is structured around the designated schedule of the grain trimmers (?), the people who do the work of loading a ship. Their regular loading hours are during the daytime (approx. 8am to 4 or 5pm) on weekdays. Loading a vessel outside of those boundaries (late at night, very early in the morning, on a weekend, on a major Holiday) means that the workers will be paid overtime. After-hours loading is fairly common around the Twin Ports and seems to be happening more often during the last 5-10 years. If the cargo is time sensitive or a vessel needs to get to its next destination in a hurry, a shipper will likely be willing to pay extra for speed. I believe that some terminals' tariffs (loading rules and fee schedules) state that if there is a heavy backlog of ships waiting to load, the grain terminal can force the shipper to either payout for overtime loading or force the vessel to vacate the dock so others can get in and load first.
The loading time of a week for the kinds of grain ships which visit the Twin Ports is unusually long. Loading berths with fast gallery/elevator conveyors and multiple loading spouts (CHS, Peavey, General Mills S) can usually put 10,000 - 13,000 tons of grain aboard a ship in a regular 8-9 hour work day with ideal conditions. That means that smaller oceangoing ships like most Wagenborg, BBC, Beluga, and Intersee vessels can load at one of these facilities in a day. Larger ocean ships from fleets like Fednav, Canfornav, and Polsteam load in 1.5 - 2 days. Canadian lakers load in about 2 days. Loading berths with single, fixed spouts (like General Mills A or AGP/Cap6 before it got out of the shiploading business) take a little longer - add about one full work day's worth of loading to the above times and that's about right. The loading berth attached to the B1 section of the ex-Cargill terminal in Duluth has fast gallery conveyors and two mobile loading spouts, which cut down on load time especially with longer ships because they don't have to shift along the dock to allow spouts access to different holds. Back when it was an active grain loading berth, Cargill B1 often managed to load a large saltie in one regular work day and Seawaymax Canadian lakers in a day-and-a-half or less.
[b]lightoller,[/b] The current backlog at the Twin Ports exists because there is a steady stream of vessels arriving to load grain, and only two local terminals (with three available loading berths between them) are really loading ships right now.
That backlog will likely be enhanced by the rainy weather Duluth-Superior had today - grain can't be loaded in the rain or it will spoil - combined with the fact that three more vessels are scheduled to arrive for grain either tonight or tomorrow.
There are other reasons behind long time periods spent at anchor. When grain exports are strong some vessels arrive in port intending to take out a load but before their owners have actually found a specific cargo for them. Sometimes a vessel arrives at a loading port before its designated cargo has come in by train/truck, or before it's inspected and ready to come out of the elevator. Occasionally a vessel has to wait out the last few days of a fixed-length short-term charter that's about to expire before it can continue with its next bit of business.