Jurong Port, Airtight Cement Conveying and Enclosed Aggregate Handling

Jurong Port is Singapore's main multipurpose port for bulk and construction materials. Its common user Cement Terminal handles more than 90% of Singapore's bulk cement imports, with annual capacity of over 7.5 million tonnes (Jurong Port, n.d.a). Cement is a fine, dusty powder, so the way it moves from ship to storage is the main dust risk. Jurong Port has also developed a Ready-Mixed Concrete (RMC) Ecosystem that moves construction aggregates by conveyor rather than by tipper truck (Jurong Port, n.d.c; Jurong Port, 2023).

Approach

Airtight air-slide conveying. Cement discharged from ships moves to the storage silos through an air-slide conveyor system that combines air pressure and gravity. Jurong Port describes the system as airtight and sound-insulated (Jurong Port, n.d.a).

Direct ship-to-silo transfer. Screw unloaders discharge cement at up to 1,000 tonnes per hour, and the conveyor feeds it into storage silos, so cement is not stockpiled in the open (Jurong Port, n.d.a). Cement can also be loaded onto custom-built silo barges for offshore projects (Jurong Port, n.d.b).

Electrified unloading. Jurong Port reports the installation of electric cement unloaders and conveyor belt systems for handling cement as part of its port decarbonization work (Jurong Port, 2023).

Enclosed aggregate conveying and storage. In the RMC Ecosystem, construction aggregates are moved by a fully enclosed and automatic conveying system to a storage facility and RMC batching plant. Fixed and movable quayside conveyors reduce the need for tipper trucks, and the storage facility is fully enclosed (Jurong Port, n.d.c).

Results

Jurong Port expects the use of electric balance cranes and conveyor systems for aggregates to reduce truck trips by 624,000 per year (Jurong Port, 2023). Jurong Port has not published dust monitoring results for these facilities, so dust outcomes cannot be quantified from public sources.