OTEKO, an operator of marine terminals in the port of Taman, continues building the world’s largest mineral fertilizers warehouse with a 300,000 tons storage capacity and an expected annual throughput up to 5 million tons.
At present, monolithic reinforced concrete structures installation has been completed, which required almost 47 thousand tons of concrete.
Work is now underway to install metal roof structures. More than 2 thousand tons have already been assembled. In total, upon completion of the work, this volume will be about 8 thousand tons. 8 high-rise cranes with a total lifting capacity of more than 1.5 thousand tons are deployed.
Before the warehouse is covered with roofing, specialists have to install the main technological equipment – two half-portal reclaimers, which will be used to load mineral fertilizers from the warehouse on board the ship by conveyors.
There will be two such conveyors so that two different products can be unloaded into the warehouse at the same time. The warehouse itself is divided into 10 boxes with a capacity of 30 thousand tons each and is designed to handle 7 different types of mineral fertilizers. These are mainly urea, of which Russia is the world’s leading exporter. Also, ammophos, sulpho- and nitroammophos and other complex fertilizers used in agriculture will be stored at the facility.
Once the steel structures of the warehouse are completed, the next stage will be the installation of product unloading conveyors at a height of 38 meters, to deliver fertilizers directly to the warehouse for storage.
The project also provides for building a railcar unloading station with a capacity of 8 railcars at a time. It will be equipped with two parallel unloading lines for 4 railcars each, which will allow unloading 2 types of mineral fertilizers simultaneously.
The warehouse will be equipped with state-of-the-art aspiration systems and cascade chutes to ensure dust-free and safe storage and transshipment.
Currently, dredging is being completed at the specialized berth for mineral fertilizers, which will allow loading them onto vessels with a maximum deadweight of 120,000 tons. With a design loading capacity of up to 2,500 tons per hour, such a vessel can be loaded in less than three days.
The new facility is to become operable by the end of 2025.
Photo: OTEKO