A stacker-reclaimer or shiploader at a bulk export terminal is one of the most complex single machines in industrial automation. It has hundreds of I/O points. It integrates with multiple other systems: the terminal’s supervisory control system, the vessel loading management system, weighing and sampling systems, and the mine’s train loading system. It moves, with boom luffing, slewing, and travel along the stockpile pad, using positioning systems that have to be calibrated against the physical geometry of the terminal. And it has to work reliably, every shift, every day.
Getting from a completed installation to a machine that does that reliably is a commissioning process that takes weeks to months, depending on the machine size and complexity. This article describes what that process looks like.
The commissioning sequence
Commissioning a large bulk handling machine follows a sequence that cannot be significantly reordered. Each phase is a prerequisite for the next.
Phase 1: Electrical completion and I/O testing
Before the machine can move, all field wiring must be installed and terminated. I/O testing verifies that every sensor, actuator, limit switch, and drive is correctly wired to the control panels.
I/O testing at this scale is a systematic exercise. The I/O list, typically a spreadsheet with one row per I/O point, is the working document. For each point, the test engineer confirms the physical connection by bridging or probing at the field terminal, and verifies the signal is seen at the PLC with the correct scaling. On a machine with 300 I/O points, this takes days.
Phase 2: Drive commissioning
Variable speed drives (VSDs) for the major machine drives (travel, slew, luff, bucket wheel or scraper) are commissioned by the drive vendor or an experienced drive commissioning engineer. Drive parameters are set for the specific motor, gearbox, and load characteristics. Speed ramps, torque limits, and protection settings are configured and verified. Drives are run in isolation before being handed to the machine control system.
Phase 3: Static function testing
With the machine powered up but held in a safe state (brakes applied, E-stops active), the control system logic is tested without machine movement. Each interlock is tested by simulating the interlock condition and verifying the correct response. E-stop circuits are tested at each E-stop station. Safety systems (speed monitoring, slip detection, anti-collision) are verified.
Phase 4: No-load dynamic testing
The machine moves for the first time, carefully, under close supervision, with maintenance personnel positioned to observe each mechanism. Travel along the pad at minimum speed. Slewing through a short arc. Luffing the boom. Each movement is verified against the control system’s position feedback to confirm that the positioning systems are reading correctly.
This phase typically reveals the first integration issues: sensors that read incorrectly at operating speed compared to static, limit switches that trip prematurely, drive responses that differ from the parameterised expectations.
Phase 5: Loaded testing and calibration
With the machine confirmed to operate correctly mechanically, the process of calibration begins. Belt weighers are calibrated against test weights. Sampling systems are checked. Stockpile management logic is verified. Loading rate targets are set and confirmed against the terminal’s design specifications.
Phase 6: Integration testing
A bulk handling machine does not operate in isolation. The stacker fills stockpiles that the reclaimer recovers; the reclaimer feeds the conveyor that feeds the shiploader; the shiploader loads the vessel against a loading order from the vessel planning system. Each interface, between the machine’s PLC and the terminal’s supervisory system, and between the terminal’s SCADA and the vessel planning system, must be verified end-to-end.
This is where integration testing can consume significant time. Interfaces between systems built by different vendors, on different platforms, with different data models, frequently surface issues that only become visible when the complete information chain is tested.
First movement and first ore
First ore on ship is the moment the commissioning sequence has been building toward: the shiploader places the chute into the vessel hold, the conveyor system is running at loading rate, and product flows from the stockpile to the ship.
At FMG’s Port Hedland iron ore facility, first ore on ship was a significant milestone: the commissioning of a brand-new port, the first shipment of iron ore from Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group. The control systems work that supported that milestone was one of many projects in a commissioning programme that involved integrating machines built by different vendors across a terminal that was entirely new.
In bulk handling commissioning, the path from I/O test to first ore is rarely linear. Machines that have been designed and built in parallel need to be integrated and operated as a system. The commissioning sequence provides the structure, but the commissioning team’s experience and problem-solving capability determines how efficiently the gaps between design intent and operational reality are closed.
About the author
Dennis Murphy RPEQ has more than a decade of project experience at Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT), Queensland’s largest coal export terminal, including commissioning, upgrades, and ongoing support for stacker-reclaimers, shiploaders, and conveyor systems. He has also delivered commissioning support at FMG Port Hedland, BHP’s Newman Hub, Rio Tinto Cape Lambert, and Assmang Khumani in South Africa. Contact: dennis.murphy@beetle.engineering | 0428 500 880 | beetle.engineering