Floating Cement Terminal

Abstract

A floating cement terminal includes a floating pontoon, at least one ship docking station, a cement storage warehouse, a cement packing station, a bulk cement loading station and at least one vehicle ramp. The floating pontoon is retained adjacent a land mass. The at least one vehicle ramp allows vehicles access to the floating pontoon from a land mass. Each ship docking station includes at least one ship unloader. The ship unloader removes cement from a docked ship and transfers the cement to the cement storage warehouse. Cement in the cement storage warehouse is transferred to the cement packing station and the bulk cement loading station. The cement going into the cement packing station is loaded into bags. The cement going to the bulk cement loading station is transferred to a plurality of silos for loading into tanker trucks. Electrical power is preferably supplied from a self-contained power source.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This is a nonprovisional application taking priority from provisional application no. 2009 / 03149 filed in the South Africa patent office on May 7, 2009.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates generally to the supplying cement and more specifically to a floating cement terminal, which allows a ship to off-load cement at a non-port location.[0004]2. Discussion of the Prior Art[0005]Cement manufacturers and cement suppliers experience numerous problems concerning supply of cement. Manufacturers of cement have limited supply / output capacity in each country. The reason for the limited supply is due to the fact that cement factories are designed to have a certain production or output capacity. Cement Factories / Manufacturers invest usually in the range of $85 million up to $300 million for a cement factory with an annual production capacity of approximately only 2 million metric tons. Ports ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a floating cement terminal, which enables cement factories to not be limited to their existing factory supply capacity, but provide access to global cement supplies at highly beneficial pricing and a cement buyers association, which is able to cater for both import and export markets along with maintaining adequate stock holdings if required.

[0040]It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a floating cement terminal, which provides instant access to additional cement supply capacity and eliminates the waiting times for cargo ships to arrive, which is usually 30 to 45 days.

Problems solved by technology

Cement manufacturers and cement suppliers experience numerous problems concerning supply of cement.

Manufacturers of cement have limited supply / output capacity in each country.

Ports may be overcrowded or too small to handle the current or increasing volumes of ships coming into or exiting the ports.

For example, construction companies require cost effective and timeous supply of cement for building projects, cement manufacturers' and their shareholders profit margins are impacted through over supply or under supply of cement.

When demand for cement in a country is high and local production cannot cope with demand, this results in importation of cement by either manufacturers, buyers, commodity traders, governments or building contractors themselves.

Importation of cement to meet demand causes supply delays and pricing fluctuations due to “spot prices” and “demand shortages” influencing overall pricing.

Once again, logistics impacts product pricing and delivery.

Limited delivery capacity both into and out of ports (trucking, trains / rail, etcetera).

Logistics (trucking or related) penalties associated with “ports” pick-up and delivery timeslots are not being met (thereby increasing costs to suppliers, exporters, importers and ultimately consumers).

Images