A ship loading system for loading fluidizable materials into a ship's hold is described. The system comprises a self-supporting tubular boom that is attached to a support tower at a single attachment point. An air gravity conveyor is enclosed within the tubular boom for materials from the vicinity of the support tower to the ship's hold.

A method for handling bulk products may include placing harvested product into a container and facilitating shipment of the container with the harvested product to an end user of the harvested product without further handling of the harvested product. A container for receiving, drying, shipping, and tracking the products may also be provided.

Mined material is transported within and outside a mine (10) in containers (26) that are fixed. discrete load units. namely containers that define a fixed maximum volume that can be carried in each container. The containers can be carried on or coupled to and then removed from vehicles (16) or other transport options. such as flatbed trucks. flatbed rail carriages or overhead suspension units. The containers can be stored at designated container storage facilities (28) in the mine. The container storage facilities are holding areas for loaded containers at mines until decisions are made to transport the containers to mineral processing plants (30) in the mine or to end-use customers. for example via rail to a shipping port (24).

There is provided a material categorisation and transportation system including a plurality of mine vehicles for transporting material within a mine site from a first location in the form of a blast site to a second location. The system includes a sensing device for actively sensing chemical property characteristics of raw blasted mined material such that the raw material can be categorised into a plurality of material categories based on the sensed characteristics. The system further includes a loading device located at blast site for loading the raw material into a predefined one of the mine vehicles based on material category for transportation to the second location. The system is such that each of the mine vehicles only carries raw material of a predetermined one of the material categories.

A method of delivering proppant to a well site has the steps of transporting a load of proppant in a vessel to a desired location, moving the load of proppant from the vessel into a container so as to create a proppant-loaded container, unloading the proppant-loaded container into a pneumatic bulk trailer, and transporting the unloaded proppant in the pneumatic bulk trailer to well site. The container is placed onto a bed of a truck and moved in proximity to the vessel. The proppant-loaded container is placed onto a tilting mechanism and then tilted so that the proppant is discharged through a flow gate of a container into a hopper. The proppant in the hopper can then be conveyed to the pneumatic bulk trailer.

A ship loading system for loading fluidizable materials into a ship's hold is described. The system comprises a self-supporting tubular boom that is attached to a support tower at a single attachment point. An air gravity conveyor is enclosed within the tubular boom for materials from the vicinity of the support tower to the ship's hold.

A method of delivering proppant to a well site has the steps of transporting a load of proppant in a vessel to a desired location, moving the load of proppant from the vessel into a container so as to create a proppant-loaded container, unloading the proppant-loaded container into a pneumatic bulk trailer, and transporting the unloaded proppant in the pneumatic bulk trailer to well site. The container is placed onto a bed of a truck and moved in proximity to the vessel. The proppant-loaded container is placed onto a tilting mechanism and then tilted so that the proppant is discharged through a flow gate of a container into a hopper. The proppant in the hopper can then be conveyed to the pneumatic bulk trailer.

A method of delivering proppant to a well site has the steps of transporting a load of proppant in a vessel to a desired location, moving the load of proppant from the vessel into a container so as to create a proppant-loaded container, unloading the proppant-loaded container into a pneumatic bulk trailer, and transporting the unloaded proppant in the pneumatic bulk trailer to well site. The container is placed onto a bed of a truck and moved in proximity to the vessel. The proppant-loaded container is placed onto a tilting mechanism and then tilted so that the proppant is discharged through a flow gate of a container into a hopper. The proppant in the hopper can then be conveyed to the pneumatic bulk trailer.

A method of delivering proppant to a well site has the steps of transporting a load of proppant in a vessel to a desired location, moving the load of proppant from the vessel into a container so as to create a proppant-loaded container, unloading the proppant-loaded container into a pneumatic bulk trailer, and transporting the unloaded proppant in the pneumatic bulk trailer to well site. The container is placed onto a bed of a truck and moved in proximity to the vessel. The proppant-loaded container is placed onto a tilting mechanism and then tilted so that the proppant is discharged through a flow gate of a container into a hopper. The proppant in the hopper can then be conveyed to the pneumatic bulk trailer.

An apparatus for the transport and storage of proppant has a container with a top wall, a pair of end walls and a pair of side walls. The pair of side walls extend between the pair of end walls. The container has a bottom discharge opening. The container includes a funnel extending from the pair of side walls and from the pair of and walls toward the bottom discharge opening. The funnel has sides extending in an angle of greater than 25 with respect to horizontal. The funnel includes a pair of side plates extending respectively from the pair of side walls toward the bottom discharge opening and a pair of end plates extending respectively from the pair of end walls toward the bottom discharge opening. Each of the side plates and the end plates is formed of a stainless steel material.