Weighbridge withstands fiercest weather conditions in the UK

Isle of Lewis, UK - Stornoway Port Authority  has installed a weighbridge Stornoway on the Hebridean Isle of Lewis, 30 miles off the north west coast of Scotland, and has some of the fiercest weather conditions in the UK. The weighbridge, from Avery Weigh-Tronix, is designed to survive the effects of seawater but also requires regular servicing to keep the equipment working.

The existing steel weighbridge was pit-mounted to be flush to the road and is close to the sea front. It is subject to an extremely corrosive atmosphere and can be exposed to seawater due to back flooding when there is a high spring tide.

The solution involved a one-piece J105 pit-mounted concrete weighbridge manufactured to fit into the existing pit. Concrete weighbridges have a design life of up to 40 years and are unaffected by salt water so they  offer a much longer service life, with lower maintenance costs than those manufactured from steel.

The weighbridge is used infrequently, but needs to be fully operational at all times since the cost of delaying freight shipments can run into thousands of pounds per day. The Port Authority therefore also needed a service contract. This includes two service visits per year, an annual calibration and also commits Avery Weigh-Tronix to respond within 8 hours if an emergency occurs.

“Downtime costs for a weighbridge can be significant, so it pays to check the fine details of any contract that you have. Preventative maintenance is vital and so is emergency cover,“ said Dave Webb, service director for Avery Weigh-Tronix, which now maintains all of the serviced weighbridges on the Western Isles. 

“Weighbridges used at ports face an incredibly demanding and corrosive environment. We needed to find a solution that was cost effective for the long term. The best solution was an Avery Weigh-Tronix concrete weighbridge, particularly as it was sized to fit in the existing pit," said Captain Torquil Macleod harbourmaster for Stornoway Port Authority.

“The company has also provided a software solution that is tailored to meet our particular needs and, bearing in mind where we are, a service and maintenance contract for all of our weighbridges,” added MacLeod.

The weighbridge solution also included a data management system to better record the details of shipped goods. With the weighbridge only used occasionally, Avery Weigh-Tronix adapted its Weighman Xtra software to work on a laptop. This plugs into the system and its easy to use interface means that any of the 16 port employees can use it when a vessel is loaded or unloaded.

Since the installation, a second weighbridge has had its weight indicator converted so that the same software can record data from both of the Authority’s weighbridges.