The 835 M at Breathwit Marine is very efficient as it transfers sand and gravel from a barge to hoppers that feed Cemex’s asphalt and cement plant.

DICKINSON, TX – When towing and shipyard company, Breathwit Marine Contractors, acquired the assets of Tex Mex Marine in December 2007, included among them was a SENNEBOGEN 835 M material handler that was already in place and working at a port transfer application. Today, Breathwit Marine’s SENNEBOGEN 835 M is located at Cemex USA’s Turkey Bend Island (TBI) Navigation Yard in Houston, where it transfers sand and gravel from barges to hoppers that feed conveyors to Cemex’s asphalt and cement plants.   

“We transport the aggregate material to the Cemex yard using our tugs and barges, and then we transfer it to their hoppers using our SENNEBOGEN 835 M which is equipped with a 2 cu.yd. Rotobec clamshell bucket. It’s all part of a package deal we offer them,” says Cliff Breathwit, General Manager Breathwit Marine Contractors. “We haven’t had any problems with the SENNEBOGEN machine since taking ownership of it. It’s proven to be a very reliable machine for this particular application.”

Breathwit a diversified company
As a parent company, Breathwit Marine Contractors oversees 22 different companies. The company got its start in the towing business in the early 1980s with one tugboat and one barge. Today it has nine tugboats and thirty-six barges. Breathwit estimates that in 2008 the company transported about 1.5 million tons of sand and gravel to the Houston area and unloaded the majority of it using their own material handlers, including the SENNEBOGEN 835 M they acquired from Tex Mex Marine.

The SENNEBOGEN machine was originally purchased by its former owners from Rusty May at Waukesha-Pearce Industries (WPI). According to Breathwit, his company has a long-time relationship with May and Waukesha-Pearce as an equipment supplier. Breathwit Marine also provides barge transportation services for the Houston-based Komatsu dealer. Breathwit indicated he just loaded one of WPI’s SENNEBOGEN rental units on a Breathwit Marine barge for delivery to a customer doing hurricane clean-up in the region. He says that WPI is very attentive to Breathwit Marine’s needs and notes that service calls for the 835 M have been dealt with in a very timely manner.

835 M is very truckable
Breathwit reports that his SENNEBOGEN 835 M is very “truckable” in comparison to some of his other material handling equipment. “Some of our other equipment requires a major disassembly to get it on a trailer and transport it anywhere – not our SENNEBOGEN. You just pull out its outriggers, put it on a trailer and away you go.”

“The 835 M does a great job at the TBI yard”, Breathwit continues. “It doesn’t actually do a 360° swing, but more like a 90° cycle from the barges to the hopper. Our operators say it’s really smooth and efficient. And because they have to look down into the barges when they are unloading them, they find the SENNEBOGEN machine’s elevating and tilting cab a necessity for this application.”

About SENNEBOGEN
SENNEBOGEN has been a leading name in the global material handling industry for more than 58 years. Based in Stanley, North Carolina, SENNEBOGEN LLC offers a complete range of purpose-built machines to suit virtually any material handling application. A growing network of distributors supports SENNEBOGEN sales and service across the Americas, ensuring the highest standard of professional machine support and parts availability.