The port of Beiliang is located near the international sea port city of Dalian in the northeast of China. It is strategically located, boasting excellent road, rail, and air links.

At present, the port has ten berths for ocean-going vessels, including docks for grain, petrochemicals, and vegetables plus one multipurpose berth each for containers and general commodities. The port of Beiliang handles 28 million metric tons of goods every year.

World class terminals
A number of world-class grain terminals for storing and handling grain are situated just next to the berths for grain ships. This entire "grain complex" consists of three large docks for grain handling, a grain terminal elevator with a holding capacity of 870,000 metric tons, and a national grain warehouse that holds 600,000 tons.

For overland transportation, a total of 2400 hopper cars are available in four marshalling yards, in addition to over 40 trucks for road shipments.

The facility is also equipped with control and test systems, proportioning installations, a complete automatic control system, an information management system, and other installations for handling and weighing bulk materials.

The maximum capacity of the grain transshipping facility for unloading rail vehicles and loading ships is 4000 metric tons an hour. That for unloading ships amounts to 2000 tons per hour, and for loading rail vehicles 1000 tons per hour. The annual grain handling volume amounts to 12 million metric tons.

First loader from Buhler
In early 2005, the Beiliang port authority decided to increase loading capacity by adding two more ship loaders. The goal was to optimize operations and to create a possibility to simultaneously load ships with different materials at two different piers.

As part of this expansion project, the port authority decided to install two Buhler ship loaders provided with advanced equipment and reflecting the state of the art – the first such units to be supplied to a customer in China. These mechanical loaders operate continuously with a throughput of 1000 metric tons per hour each.

Special features
The two new ship loaders are equipped with loading head dust suppressors. Throughout the loading operation, these units effectively suppress dust emissions, keeping the surroundings clean and ensuring compliance with environmental protection regulations.

The effectiveness of this dust control system has proved to be higher than that of systems applied on other ship loaders.

In addition, the two facilities also have a state-of-the-art automatic system for the remote control of all operations.

Other features include various installations for ensuring safe and reliable operation. The entire installation is provided with a dependable quality assurance system from design features to main components.

Parts of the loaders were manufactured in China under the Buhler quality assurance system. The two new loaders from Buhler have definitely improved the efficiency and quality of ship loading in the port of Beiliang.