by CLYDEBRAE » Sun Mar 03, 2013 5:28 pm
An interesting photo at the time of the cargo handling transition at Billingham Reach. The recently built simporter is discharging a cargo of phosphate rock, which would have been previously handled by the gantry crane, redundant and parked up at the forward end of the vessel. On the opposite Middlesbrough side of the river the former ironmasters district was also in transition being redeveloped into the Riverside Park light industrial estate it is today. Wind blown dust was a nuisance and one of the advantages of the simporter was to minimise this but it was never very effective in handling an abrasive product such as phos rock and rarely achieved the tonnages expected of it. One can also see the main hall of North Tees Power Station in the background, by then no longer in operation and soon to be demolished.