Record: 6,800 T of Powergom shred
in a single vessel
This is the first time that Aliapur has ever sent such a large shipment in a single vessel. It was only possible from Dunkirk, which is both a sea and river port. Before that, the shred travelled not a single kilometer by road, but exclusively by canal.
It took 2 days to load the 13,000 m3 hold of the 128 m-long bulk carrier.
This is an absolute record for the sector, almost twice the usual shipment size! In mid-July in Dunkirk, Aliapur had a single vessel loaded with 6,800 tonnes of Powergom shred, obtained from more than 850,000 passenger vehicle tyres and destined to be used as an alternative fuel source in a cement works in Turkey.
Such a large quantity has never been sent in a single ship. It took 2 days to fill the 13,000 m3 hold of the Tango Rio, a bulk carrier measuring 128 m in length, before it set sail for the Turkish port of Canakkale, on the banks of the Dardanelles Strait, linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.
The Powergom shred was produced by two transformation sites whose geographical locations are particularly interesting for transport via Dunkirk, a port that has both sea and river terminals: the company Gilles Henry, located at the river platform in Toul (Nancy), on the Moselle river, and the company Ramery, which backs on to the platform in Harnes (Lens), on the Deûle canal.
260 fewer trucks on the roads
Powergom was thus bulk loaded on to 5 barges, each capable of carrying up to 1,500 tonnes: 4 from Gilles Henry and the fifth from Ramery. The 6,800 tonnes of alternative fuel thus did not travelled a single kilometer by road to Dunkirk. With 26 tonnes per truck, transporting the shred by canal made it possible to avoid using 260 trucks.
Since July 2019, and in line with the sector’s strategy to avoid using road transport whenever possible, this was the 4th shipment to set sail from Dunkirk that had been transported exclusively by river beforehand.