Screw conveyors - France

Enclosed screw conveyors underpin French cement facility

When the Le Havre cement facility, owned by France Liants, needed an efficient, enclosed conveying system to transfer cement from vessels to its storage facilities, and then on to a variety of different distribution points, it turned to Siwertell screw-type conveyor technology.

Customer need 

France Liants, part of RMC France Group, needed a complete cement handling system to support the growth and development of its Le Havre cement terminal in northwest France. 

It required an extensive dry bulk handling installation designed for discharging cement from ocean-going vessels on a floating jetty, conveying it to a rebuilt flat storage building and then reclaiming it for transfer either back to the jetty to load river barges or for conveying to silos for loading trucks. 

The site’s total storage capacity is 25,000 metric tons, and its owners were looking not only for a system that would deliver exceptional environmental credentials, in the form of dust-free material transfers and zero spillage; but also wanted conveyors that would ensure proven reliability and performance to maintain high rated capacities throughout the facility. 

As a complex installation, all equipment needed to integrate perfectly with each other. In particular, the conveying system was highlighted as a critical element, as this would ensure the efficiency of the terminal as a whole.

Our solution

Bruks Siwertell was chosen for the turn-key contract as it could deliver all elements of the installation; a unique combined Siwertell ST 490 rail-mounted ship unloader that structurally supported a Siwertell 600 ship loader. The system offers a rated unloading capacity of 800t/h and loading capacity of 400t/h. In addition to this, and underpinning the terminal’s storage and reclaiming system, is a network of horizontal and vertical Siwertell screw-type conveyors, along with a belt conveyor system.

Siwertell screw conveyors offer extremely reliable, cost-efficient material transfers that protect the environment as they are completely enclosed. They have decades of use in the cement industry and for many other types of dry bulk. 

In Le Havre, discharged cement is conveyed from the jetty barge via a 75m-long horizontal screw-type conveyor, which offers material transfers to the 800t/h belt conveyor, which then feeds the horizontal screw conveyors that serve the flat storage building. 

The horizontal screw and belt conveyors can be used for unloading and loading cement, as the installation has been designed so that they can transfer dry bulk material in both directions. Therefore, cement can be transferred back from the silos to the jetty for loading river barges. The system also offers high degrees of automation, ensuring efficient control and cargo flows.