by Duluth Guest » June 7, 2017, 2:22 pm
I think there are more factors involved when it comes to whether or not to load at the gravity chutes to be honest. For example, the Gott and Speer can only load at the ship-loader due to the short hatches on the deck. So if a vessel arrives that can load at the chutes, and neither the Gott or the Speer are due in port in the near future, I think they wait for the ship loader. Such is the case right now, the Gott is probably a 48 hours out and the Speer just left a day or so ago. At any rate, I think the preference is not delay the "big guys" as much as they can. I have seen both the Blough and Presque Isle take partial loads at the chutes then shift to the ship loader. It is not unusual at all to see the GLF AAAs loading at the chutes but some of those cargoes are mill fines that they typically run through the gravity docks. So, long story short, it all depends on what the cargo is, whom it is for and what the timing is relative to the footers. All of this is just speculative though.
I think there are more factors involved when it comes to whether or not to load at the gravity chutes to be honest. For example, the Gott and Speer can only load at the ship-loader due to the short hatches on the deck. So if a vessel arrives that can load at the chutes, and neither the Gott or the Speer are due in port in the near future, I think they wait for the ship loader. Such is the case right now, the Gott is probably a 48 hours out and the Speer just left a day or so ago. At any rate, I think the preference is not delay the "big guys" as much as they can. I have seen both the Blough and Presque Isle take partial loads at the chutes then shift to the ship loader. It is not unusual at all to see the GLF AAAs loading at the chutes but some of those cargoes are mill fines that they typically run through the gravity docks. So, long story short, it all depends on what the cargo is, whom it is for and what the timing is relative to the footers. All of this is just speculative though.