ACC - in a joint venture with the government of India - has set up the most sophisticated bulk unloading terminal at Kalamboli, Navi Mumbai, to bring its cement from the ACC plant at Wadi in Karnataka.
The terminal at Kalamboli has three 5000-tonne-capacity silos to store cement which is transported in specially designed railway wagons. The company has its own fleet of 15-tonne road-bulkers in which cement is then brought to the end-user's construction site. The terminal has three modes of evacuation: bulk tanker trucks, jumbo bags (one and 1.5 tonnes), and 50 kg bags. Mechanized loading and unloading of cement reduces manual intervention to the barest minimum.
Prospective customers for bulk cement are RMX manufacturers, institutions, government agencies, contractors, builders, manufacturers of pre-cast fabricated concrete blocks, asbestos sheets and many more. Many of them have their own batching plants and are using bulk cement.
The other features of this project include 125 wholly owned railway wagons which ensure that the manual intervention for loading and unloading of cement is minimal. The cement, until it reaches the terminal and the customer, is untouched by hand. The terminal has three modes of evacuation, namely in Bulk tanker trucks, in Jumbo Bags (1 tonne and 1.5 tonne) and traditional bags of 50 and 25 kgs.
Cement is now delivered by weight, duly weighed on electronic weighbridges. The cement godown for the storage of bags, has virtually become part of history. Instead you have tubular steel silos, which take up much lower space and at the same time are designed to ensure free flowing discharge of the cement. The dust collectors installed on the silos ensure a pollution free environment. The mechanization of the unloading process, enables the total quantity of cement (15 tonnes) to be unloaded into the site silo in 25 minutes flat. Cement is now delivered just on time.
A well-equipped laboratory ensures that the testing is carried out scientifically to comply with all cement quality norms. The site silos which are a must at the customers sites, can be provided at mutually agreed terms, eliminates a major cause for concern for the end-user. Pilferage is also made impossible.
