Unique problems require creative solutions, and Port of West Memphis operators Demeko Berry and Danterio Siplin showed they’re the team members you need when facing such a challenge. 

Nearly two years ago, the terminal received a 900-ton shipment of bad ammonium sulfate. This tainted the rest of the product it was added to, leaving the terminal with 2,350 tons of defective ammonium sulfate. The product is usually a fine powder-like substance, but this shipment was prone to clumping together. This made most customers wary to buy the product until recently. They agreed to give it a chance, but requested our team run it through a de-lumper to break ammonium sulfate back down into its normal consistency. 

Our team loads the product into a hopper using a front-end loader. There’s an agitator in the hopper that breaks apart the clumps. The material then passes through a screen onto the conveyor, which carries the product to the truck on the scale. Normally, it takes 15 to 20 minutes to load a truck, but this product was taking our team two or more hours per truck. 

“We tried everything,” said Terminal Manager Nathan Hackey. “We were cleaning off the screen between each truck, cleaning out the entire system sometimes, but we couldn’t get the product to move like it should. It was frustrating for the customer, truck drivers, and our team. It was delaying loading for other customers.”

This went on for weeks. Finally, after one truck took nearly three hours to load, Berry and Siplin had an idea: Fasten strands of stainless-steel cable to the agitator. The added width of the cable made the agitator just thick enough to touch the screen, which helped push the de-lumped product onto the conveyor. Loading times immediately dropped to 15 minutes, with no delay between trucks. 

“I know I can count on these guys to step up and come up with ways to help,” Hackey said. “It was a simple solution to a problem we’d had for weeks. It’s a win for everyone. The customer originally purchased 600 tons of the product, but now they’re buying it all. The truck drivers are a lot happier now that they don’t have to wait for hours to load. And it’ll free up space in our warehouse for something new.”