Boatnerd Discussion Forum

[quote=Guest post_id=255580 time=1693849524]
The Cort has a crane on deck used to lift various items on and off. I've not see it used for any of the unloading or loading process.
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I believe the crane on the Cort has to do with the ballast tank pumps arrangement.

The Cort has a crane on deck used to lift various items on and off. I've not see it used for any of the unloading or loading process.

If I recall, the Stewart J Cort has a mobile crane on her deck as well?

The reclaimer system was very complex and expensive as most parts had to be custom machined. Jack Leitch came up with an improved version that used front-end unloaders that push the cargo to the center-line conveyor. It's called the "Leitch Design".

Here's a video of the John D. Leitch unloading at Burns Harbor, with the front-end unloaders in action. (The constant beep-beep-beep of the front-end unloaders moving in the cargo hold must drive people insane.)

The Algoma Transport is the last self-unloader on the lakes to use a reclaimer self-unloading system - as far as I know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuyXKZO-sIo&list=PLAsMRKGv8iBIACPr9uB-hp9eGBzHQ02H0&index=11

your exactly correct. you not only have o be a seaman but also a front end loader operator. sother self unloaders are so equiped.

Yes, that's it- wheel loader and skid steer. Other boats have used this method in the past; some tried the square hold concept with a fancy purpose built "reclaimer" machines instead of plain old commercially available equipment but as far as I know those ended up not being worth it and the handful of ships with this type of hold reverted to wheel loaders.

Yeah pretty much. What free-flowing cargo can fall thru the gates does so, the rest is handled by the front end loader and skid steer. Algoma still runs a few boats with the same configuration since it maximizes volumes at the expense of unload times. Makes sense on seaway grain cargoes when trips and unloads are measured in days vs hours.

The Barker is too small to really compete in the grain trade, so her layout is really optimized for salt, slag and other fine materials

There is a very interesting article on the new Mark W Barker's cargo holds in today's (9/1/23) Boatnerd News. The article mentions the cargo holds are square rather than "V" shaped. I always assumed the "V" shape was used to direct bulk cargoes to the moving conveyor for unloading. With the flat bottim in the Mark W Barker, how do they accomplish fully unloading? Using the heavy equipment shown in a couple of the pictures?