The cement storage and conveying terminal being developed by Qatar Primary Materials Company (QPMC) in Mesaieed will be completed by end of this year, according to a senior official of a consultancy associated with the project. The facility has been designed to discharge 1.8 mt/yr of cement into the 12 silos with a total storage capacity of 60,000 cu m. The plant will be able to load 1,000 t/hr of cement in trucks, which will significantly reduce the truck loading time to 90 sec per truck. The facility will help Qatar to import and store more cement than what it is able to do today. In case the local producers have a surplus output, in future, they can also use the storage facility, which will maintain the quality of cement intact for a longer period of time, said Marc Stordiau, Managing Director, Rent A Port, a Belgium-based engineering consultant specializing in port designing and logistics operations.
According to Stordiau, the terminal will also improve the cost efficiency and handling capacity of the port significantly as the latest technology will help unload a vessel with 60,000 cu m of cement within a day, instead of 10 – 15 days without the conveyor belts and silos facilities. The high rate of discharge capacity from ships will also reduce ship waiting times.