A Shiploader is a huge machine used for loading bulk solid materials like iron ore, coal, fertilizers, grains into marine vessels for transportation by sea. Shiploaders are a very common sight in ports and jetties from where bulk materials are exported.
It mainly consist of an extendable arm or boom, a belt conveyor and a mobile structure to support the boom. It is usually mounted on rails and sometimes on tyres and can move in order to be able to reach the whole length of the ship. The boom also can move front and back, up and down by separate drives so that it can fill all the corners of the ship holds.
Shiploaders are built in capacities from 1000 to 15000 TPH (tonnes per hour). The height of a shiploader can be in excess of 20 meters and the boom can extend to a length of more than 60 meters.
A Mobile High Angle Shiploader can be found in the Port of Adelaide, Australia. The mobile sandwich belt "Snake" is carried on a tripod of twin motorized rubber tires. Each set of twin tires is mounted at a vertical kingpin and can rotate 360 degrees about that vertical axis. Thus, without repositioning, it can set up to travel in any direction. With the tail tires fixed, the front tires can be oriented and traveled for a slewing motion. Australia's first Snake Ship loader elevates a variety of high value ores from trucks to ship at an angle of 50 degrees. Materials for export are trucked to the dock and dumped onto a special trap loader type feeder. The ore is fed continuously and uniformly onto the mobile snake's receiving chute. The snake ship loader elevates the bulk over the ship's deck to the hatch where it is discharged into the ship's hold. At the discharge, a special telescoping chute, with rotating, pivoting spoon, facilitates even and complete filling of the holds.