A thousand tons of coke an hour, from pit to ship
The petroleum coke handling system at the Cardón Refinery moves 1,000 t/h from the coker pits to the solids dock. The system was commissioned in 1996; today FAM (BEUMER Group) is the technological heir of its equipment and RELANSA its local channel: in June 2026 our team inspected the complete installation.
1.000
T/H OF COKE
TECHNOLOGY BY
FAM (BEUMER Group)
Oil, Gas & Refining
01
THE CHALLENGE
Keep running, three decades on, a system made up of equipment from several original manufacturers — P&H, Robins, Roberts & Schaefer, PWH — whose technology FAM now holds: two overhead cranes, a traveling crusher car, a bridge reclaimer with bucket wheel, a traveling stacker, yard conveyors and a shiploader that is the plant's logistics bottleneck.
02
THE SOLUTION
The original reference covered basic engineering, procurement, engineering and construction supervision and commissioning (1996). Today RELANSA surveys the condition of the critical equipment on site — bucket-wheel rotation and reclaimer carriage travel drives, chains, gearboxes and brakes — and specifies belts and original spares through FAM BEUMER.
03
THE IMPACT
A 1,000 t/h system with a shiploader of up to 2,000 t/h that keeps dispatching coke to the solids dock. The June 2026 technical visit produced the equipment and drive inventory behind the spares and modernization plan, adding to the maintenance of the radial, slewing and telescopic coke and sulfur loader already carried out with FAM.
// TECHNICAL VISIT · 23 JUNE 2026
On-site survey of the coke handling and dispatch system, equipment by equipment:
- —Coke-feed overhead cranes (clamshell hoist, pressurized cab with acid-gas filtering, semi-automated remote operation)
- —Traveling crusher car with double toothed rolls on pit rails
- —Bucket-wheel rotation and reclaimer carriage travel drives: roller chains, sprockets, pillow blocks, gearbox, coupling and brake
- —Traveling stacker: 42"/48" boom, ~708 ft/min, up to 15° luffing and 108° slewing
- —Shiploader: telescopic chute with trimmer spoon, hydrocarbon-resistant belt
- —Feed, dispatch and main transport conveyors (36" to 60", Omega cover)
// TECHNOLOGY BY
FAM (BEUMER Group)
VIEW PARTNER →Integral bulk material handling systems: stackers, reclaimers, conveyors, pipe conveyors and shiploaders. FAM is also the technological heir and custodian of thyssenkrupp Fördertechnik, Robins and PWH, the equipment that moves Venezuela's bauxite, ore, fertilizers and coke. RELANSA is FAM BEUMER's office in the country, in Caracas and Puerto Ordaz.
// GALLERY
8 PHOTOS // ACTUAL PROJECT PHOTO
