With global trade and their expansive distribution channels, Webcor is now a market leader within the soft commodities and FMCGs across the Sub-Saharan Africa region. With new partnerships including pasta production plants and manufacturing cookies and candies across Angola, Webcor has been expanding their supply channels to include a new flour mill in the port of Lobito, Grandes Moagens de Angola.

In 2017 Angola’s port in Lobito, Grandes Moagens was inaugurated with the objective to fuel the Angolan economy, creating jobs, and transporting raw materials and basic food requirements needed to feed the population.

This port would be the hub to process the majority of wheat consumption needed for the country, producing over 900 tons of wheat flour and 260 tons of bran per day. This opportunity for supply chain integration of raw materials and the creation of jobs was Webcor’s driving initiative. From here, the next step was for Webcor to find the right strategic partner that could supply the engineering and equipment required to revamp the loading and unloading process for the existing 53 colonial-era silos as well as expanding the overall storage capacity with 12 additional metallic silos for an overall capacity of 48,000 tons. The port is a strategic project for Webcor, aimed to increase influence and operations through exporting grains to nearby countries – while also enhancing logistical efficiency within Angola with the improvements to the truck and train loading silos.

The AGI team from EMEA visited the site to provide technical support and to assess the status of the existing facility. Following the site assessment, AGI worked in conjunction with Webcor to develop a cost-effective and technical solution. Through this partnership, Webcor awarded AGI the project to reconstruct and refurbish the Flour Mill for the Angolan port.

The Port project posed interesting challenges with the need to unify existing concrete silos with new metallic silos for additional storage capacity. The AGI technical engineering team delivered a detailed solution, integrating an updated grain intake reception in the existing concrete tower by adding a rotary pre-cleaner and automatic weigher for product intake measures. Additional efficiency was created with the receiving and unloading updates to minimize unwanted demurrage costs. A proper loading chain speed was among the improvements, ensuring smooth receiving and unloading of commodities from vessels to the storage facility.

Considering the Port location, AGI provided a solution with the highest standard of protection to battle the coastal elements, using Z600 galvanization for the new metallic silos and hot dip galvanization for the chain conveyors and bucket elevators. Another top concern for Port facilities is the dust emissions. AGI provided a dedicated dust collection and dispatch system with adequate high-pressure filter and a dedicated conveying system to dispatch the dust and waste material safely.

The Webcor Port has a total storage capacity of 66,000 tons of grain and can unload ships up to 300 tons per hour, with 300 tons per hour of pre-cleaning capacity. The facility also has two truck loading silos with load cell weighing systems with complete conveying system to and from the vessels. This construction allows for the conveyors to fill the concrete and steel silos, passing through the precleaning and automatic weighing system. Webcor will see its processing capacities increase to 3,500 tons per day that will help feed the agro-industrial sector, pasta other food production facilities across Angola.

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