Dedicated Cement Carrier
The pneumatic cement carrier: sealed holds and fluidising systems, shipboard discharge to shore silos, moisture exclusion, and the short-sea trades the type serves.
A dedicated cement carrier is a bulk ship built or converted to carry cement and similar hydraulic powders in sealed holds and to discharge them pneumatically into shore silos without shore equipment. The type exists because cement hydrates and hardens on contact with water, so the cargo must be kept sealed from loading to discharge, and because receiving plants take delivery into enclosed silos.
The full article will cover the hold arrangement, the fluidising and aeration systems that make the powder flow to a suction point, the compressors and pipework of the discharge system, and the dust control that a sealed system provides almost as a by-product.
It will also cover the trades. Cement carriers work short-sea and regional routes serving terminals without bulk unloading plant, often on long-term contracts to a producer, and the fleet includes both purpose-built ships and conversions from conventional bulk carriers. The comparison with other powder self-dischargers, and the reasons cement cannot be handled like a chemically inert powder, will be treated alongside.