Mississippi makeover

Associated Terminals acquires S.H. Bell, maintaining its independence and management team, enhancing services on the Lower Mississippi.

UK-based DBIS (software and Automation) Ltd has won a contract to install its CommTrac bulk and breakbulk management application at Associated Terminals’ wharf and midstream stevedoring operations on the Mississippi River.

UK-based DBIS (Software and Automation) Ltd has won a contract to install its CommTrac bulk and breakbulk management application at Associated Terminals’ terminal and midstream stevedoring operations on the Mississippi River. Louisiana-headquartered Associated Terminals is one of the largest midstream stevedores operating on the Mississippi. Its fleet of floating cranes serves 11 mid anchorage facilities on the river and it operates dockside terminals at the Ports of South Louisiana and St Berna

Midstream bulk handling specialist Associated Terminals LLC in Louisiana has expanded its fleet of Gottwald floating cranes to seven machines with the acquisition of a Generation 5, Model 8 crane variant.

During the final years of the 20th Century the long-established grab gantry unloader seemed doomed to become the dinosaur of bulk ship unloading concepts, driven into extinction by the new generation of energy-efficient and apparently more environmentally compatible continuous mechanical ship unloaders. However, within the past 15 years a major turnaround has taken place.

Gottwald Port Technology GmbH reports that this year it has received orders for two more floating cranes based on its mobile harbour crane technology, bringing to 14 the number of floating cranes since it launched the product in 2000.