Interchangeable Chutes Installed at the Port of Vancouver, Canada.

The Canadian Port of Vancouver have taken delivery of two interchangeable loading chutes from Cleveland Cascades. Canada is one of the world’s biggest agricultural economies and exports huge quantities of foodstuffs every year through its Pacific Ports. Efficient, productive and environmentally friendly ship-loading chutes are a crucial part of the country’s distribution chain.

The primary chute supplied for the project, is a Cascade chute with 29m extended length, capable of loading 2,400 tph of Soybeans, Flax, Corn & Lentils. The GRP cones are lined with Tivar and the system was built to protect against the risk of explosion during loading, to a demanding CSA standard.

The secondary chute is a Free Fall Cone arrangement for loading Canola and has the same length and loading capacity as the primary chute. Canola has a high moisture content and a tendency to be a sticky material to load, so a Free Fall chute is the ideal solution.

The two chutes are designed to be part of an inter-changeable loading system, which can be easily switched to allow loading of different materials through the same head chute. A mobile storage and maintenance stand was also supplied, to store the chute when not in operation. The stand also included dual access decks to ensure access for maintenance is quick and safe.

The system was commissioned by Cleveland Cascades engineers who worked on site to install and optimise the operation of the chute according to the customer’s needs.