LOADING AND UNLOADING OPERATIONS AT SOVIET PORTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050028-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 28
• Publication Date: March 10, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

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CLASSIFICATION COlFLDCx1LfORMATIIA (ONFlDENTS4
SECUiiIS.Y 1IJ
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN bOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO,
SUBJECT
HOW
PUBLISHED
WHERE
Thrice-weekly newspaper;
nonthly periodicals
PUBLISHED Moscow
DATE
PUBLISHED Jun - c Oct 1951
LANGUAGE Russian
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C^.A?. Ai7D OR.f L11DIPG AT ZE.ANOV -- Moscow, Morskoy Flot, Oct 51
hdan,--,' has one or the most maiern ports in the USSR. In recent years,
^'- percer, of all fro-l1it turnover there was handled by machinery, while
the mechanizet.ion level for Lo:iet sea ports in 1950 was 88 percent.
fa;. aoe:c ore and coal are the rain items transshipped through the port
of h?ano'. Manganese are is unlasdej from ships by portal cranes equipped
with l;r?ah hvrkets which have i c pacit.y of 7, 12, 5, and 15 tons. Ships work-
111f, o^ re..,lar ore-shiepiu:; lines, such as the ships Chernigov, Pervomaysk,
I?iatr ?s .. , :?.stelle, 'iny;.anae., rued ::rs,sncdon, are designed for mechanized un-
load "?:. o cre, liuw. er there are at enough of these ships, and they do not
weir:: oi, In, regular 11res only. I?:ost of the manganese ore arrives at the port
in shins not. specially '?asi;;ned 'ur this kind of mechanized work. Their(
hatch..s are too small, it impossible for regular grab buckets with a
reach of c?nl.v meters to ,;et to all the ore below decks.
To everc?cnae '.hic deficiency, special scraper grab buckets with a 6.3-
meter rec,ch are nerd i t.h, port for the final loading stages. These special
buckei;c can suers:.ef'illy u?,]oad chips whose holds do not extend more than 3
teeter ?'rvrt ins cc,:, of Ill- hntah. however, even these special buckets cannot
comg,l:a'.cl;; n?::1,?rd ir;lcs of t...:;` el? the older type ships, and it is not
fessiu]r- to ore b;,;'..;;;? pith 1i1, .: -en eider span because these buckets would
stic'c too hi'-h 1:? 1:1:?: ::l~:~ec1 :o c i'.-[o:, to fit in the hold. In addition, the
n:lced ve't:-ht r?:h or he el'riciency of the crane.
' h.? ; , c.:? 1 uc'cts ca,:::ut reach all the ore in the older ships, the
6-l';3 coal-iea?. i. , c:. co.i ir, c;; ciel.]y designed for working in holds, was sent
to the port. u' .hop,:.,- : , Tests proved this machine to be completely
uncui.e.; for I, - o,,. t?. ore.. "ha power chain frequently broke and the
motor wucll, 1,,,;?,:. ,;,;; , ;,;,, modifications, which included replacing the
chain ;;dually powered belt conveyers, were made on this
:nachlne i. , ra'.?? it :a,i.tul.l. :'ur unluoding operations.
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
F;D B i
i r.u.
DISTRIBUTION
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CONFIDENTIAL
modifications, these machines will also be used for-loading work in the ships'
holds.
After experimenting with this modified S-153 machine for nearly a year,
it has been determined that it can be used efficiently only in the holds of
large-tonnage ships (of the Karaganda and Kursk class, etc.) and especially in
the bow holds of ships where much of the ore has to be brought to the hatch
openings. The machine is dropped into the hold after the crane has already
unloaded the ore around the batch opening; while the S-153 is in operation,
the crane unloads other parts of the ship. In this way, the crane is not
slowed down by the S-153, which has a slower rate of production.
During the second half of 1950, the combined average productivity of the
S-153 loading machine and the traveling crane in unloading ship holds was 54.5
tons per hour, while in the latter months of the 1950 navigation season and
the first months of the 1951 navigation season, the average productivity of
these machines increased to an average of 74 tons per hour. In some individ-
ual cases, the productivity of these machines reached 80, 90, and even 100
tons per hour. The S-153 hold machine is operated by an operator and three
other workers.
If two hold machines were used in the hold at one time (until now this
has not been practical as not enough machines have been available), it would
make it possible for the crane to work at full productivity until the entire
ship is unloaded. However, two hold machines cannot work efficiently in some
holds of the larger ships and they cannot be used at all in the smaller ships.
Because the hold machine is limited in action to only certain types of
vessels, complete mechanization of unloading work at the port can be achieved
only if special ore-carrying ships are used. However, until these ships are
available, the Zbdanov port will continue to test new methods for mechanizing
unloading work and to perfect machines already in operation.
At Zhdanov, coal is loaded at the narrow western pier which has two moor-
ings and is equipped with a 11-ton portal crane. Coal is taken from the coal
piles and loaded by caterpillar bucket cranes into special self-opening bucket
containers which are mounted on railroad car trucks. In 1950, the port
started to use sphere-shaped cutting shovels (sharovyy frezernyy lopaty) for
this work.
Trains carrying the loaded bucket containers are hauled to the pier under
the portal crane by gas- and steam-propelled switching locomotives. The crane
then picks up the containers with the aid of a special traverse, carries them
to the hatch opening, and drops them into the hold. The empty containers are
then closed and returned to the railroad car truck. The special bucket con-
tainers have two advantages over the grab buckets; the freight can be stored
far from the ship, and the crane is more efficiently utilized, as the con-
tainer weighs less than 20 percent of the cranes freight-carrying capacity,
while the grab bucket weighs 50 percent of the carrying capacity. Coal load-
ing can be completely mechanized by using either the grab bucket or the spe-
cial bucket containers if the ship's hold is suitable for this type of work.
Ships which permit mechanized unloading of ore are also suitable for mechan-
ized coal loading. In ships not suitable for mechanized coal loading, the
coal must be stored manually. Despite many efforts to mechanize this work,
little success has been achieved.
Coal is stored in the large rear storage areas of the port. In 1934
large stone unloading platform was built there for car unloading. Since the
war, new construction and equipment has not kept up with the increased demands
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ccu Limes more coal than
in 1947, and the existing unloading platform can handle only 10 percent of the
coal which is shipped to the port. In 1952, the present unloading platform
will be enlarged and a new one built.
At present, most of the gondolas are unloaded by caterpillar bucket
cranes. These same cranes are used to load the bucket containers with coal
from the coal piles (for ship loading). Even when these cranes are working at
peak efficiency, there are not enough of them to do both of these jobs at once;
to avoid excessive ship layover, manual labor has to be employed to unload
many of the coal gondolas. This problem should be eliminated in 1953, when all
gondolas will be unloaded from the unloading platforms.
Ten to 15 percent of the coal continues to arrive in the port of Zhdanov
in closed cars which have to be unloaded manually. This constitutes 4-7 per-
cent of the total freight turnover of the port.
Like many other ports which are even more completely mechanized, the port
of Zhdanov is more in need of transport suitable to the task assigned it than
it is in need of new and better equipment. When the proper transport is avail-
able, the existing machinery can be used more efficiently.
LENINGRAD PORT USES S-153 COAL LOADER -- Moscow, Morskoy Flot, Jun 51
Coal is unloaded from ships in Leningrad by portable derrick cranes
equipped with grab buckets. The unloading is started with ordinary grab buck-
ets having a capacity of 8 cubic meters and is completed with special scraper-
type grab buckets which have a 6-meter swing.
On decked ships, coal is brought to the hatch openings by the S-153 coal-
loading machine after the deck area in the vicinity of the hatch has been
cleared of coal by the grab buckets. The coal-loading machine is lowered onto
the deck by shore cranes equipped with special welded hooks, which make it
easy to transfer the machine from the shore into the ship's hold and, during
the operations, from one deck to another and into the holds. Two men, a me-
chanic and assistant, working 10-15 minutes, are required to set the machine
in place.
To operate the S-153 machine safely between decks, at least two beams
must be erected, and hatch covers, at least 2 meters wide, must be laid. The
machine must not draw nearer than 0.5 meter to the hatchway coaming.
The conveyer's unloading end always faces the hatchway opening, into
which coal Is thrown from the deck.
The S-153 machine must be run by a highly-skilled operator. Narrow pas-
sages handicap the machine and, in addition, the machine frequently skids on
the metal deck, requiring the operator to check constantly the hose cable feed-
ing the motor.
? After the coal is unloaded between decks, the machine is lowered into the
Ship's hold, where it continues working until operations are completed. The
S-153 machine cannot reach coal more than 7 meters from the hatch opening, so
in ships where this is necessary, the coal is unloaded from the hold by means
of special scraper-type grab buckets. These two machines service a deck where
the coal may be as much as 10 meters from the hatch opening, and together they
assure complete mechanization of unloading operations.
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of coal an hour. From May to November 1950, 36ships wereaunloadedrinOLenin-
grad with the S-153 unloading machine. More than 160,000 tons of coal were
unloaded and 335 layover hours were saved. Manual labor was eliminated in the
unloading operations, except for cleaning up small lots of coal left after the
machines were through.
Operational tests show that these coal-loading machines completely answer
the question of mechanizing the time-consuming process of bringing the coal to
the hatch opening. However, the machine has many shortcomings which lover its
effective performance:
1. The caterpillar tractor is not mounted on rubber tracks, which causes
the machine to skid over the metal deck frequently when in motion.
2. The friction clutches are not conveniently placed, which makes con-
trol difficult and overloads the machine. This causes the shaft to twist and
shears the gears.
3. The traction chain of the conveyer is not durable enough and fre-
quently breaks, especially while the conveyer is making the return empty trip.
4. As there is no cutout apparatus for the oil pump, hoses and pump
parts wear out prematurely, and oil leaks result. The pump should have an
automatic cutout device.
5. The conveyer's emptying overhang beam is not long enough for hold op-
erations. It should be extended 11,-2 meters.
Despite the enumerated deficiencies, the S-153 machine is very useful and
should be recommended for ports which unload coal.
CRITICIZE VOLGATANICF'R FUELING STATIONS -- Moscow, Rechnoy Transport, 9 Oct 51
Fuel barges are unloaded in two stages. First, 75-80 percent of the load
is pumped out, with the pumping station working at full capacity. The remain-
ing 20-25 percent is unloaded in what is called a stripping operation. Half
the total time required for unloading the barges is used up during the strip-
ping operations, although only a small part of the load is processed in this
manner.
Not a single fueling station of modern construction has been built for
the Volgatanker Ship Line in recent years. For example, when the designers
draw up plans for rebuilding fueling stations, they persistently plan fuel
loading and unloading from both sides of the tanker. In practice, fuel is
loaded from one side and unloaded from the other. Loading and unloading at
two sides not only raises the overhead of the fueling station but complicates
communications and makes it more difficult to handle the equipment.
At present, piston pumps are being used exclusively at the Volgatanker
fueling stations. It is often thought that to increase the station's perform-
ance, it is necessary to increase the number of cylinders and the number of
revolutions of the pump, but it is probable that the expenditures necessary to
accomplish this will increase much more than the performance of the fueling
station.
To increase unloading efficiency, piston-type pumps should be replaced by
more modern types. Centrifugal- and gear-type pumps, which are very efficient
because of their small clearance gauges, simple construction, and absence of a
connecting-rod crank and valves; should be used.
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OONFIDEN T IA.
The capacity of the fueling-station pumps must be expanded to unload the
bulk of the foe1, while acceleration of stripping operations depends on modern
barge construction. many suggestions for accelerating stripping'Prbcesses
have been offered, but nothing bas been done about them.
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