Bulk material loading and unloading facility for sea-going ships

A bulk material loading and unloading facility for sea-going ships for transporting bulk material to surface bunkers of a bulk material processing facility, comprising:

• a trough-shaped bulk material storage facility anchored in water of a body of water, on a bottom of the body of water, said trough-shaped bulk material storage facility being a scrapped ship with a bulkhead extending into the ship to a cargo hold bottom of the ship, the bulkhead extending upwardly beyond a hold of the ship, the ship having a cargo space filled with ballast, outside of said bulkhead;
• rails attached to two longitudinal walls of said trough-shaped bulk material storage facility;
• a bulk material loading and unloading device traveling on said rails;
• and
• a conveyor belt extending from said trough-shaped bulk material storage facility to a surface bunker .facility, on pile bridges, the longitudinal extent of said conveyor belt extending substantially in parallel to said longitudinal walls of said trough-shaped bulk material storage facility.

A method for creating a bulk material loading and unloading facility for seagoing ships transporting bulk material, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a scrapped cargo ship;
• adding a raised wall structure to said scrapped cargo ship, said raised wall structure extending above a waterline when said scrapped cargo ship is sunk;
• sinking said scrapped cargo ship onto a bottom of a body of water;
• attaching rails to said scrapped cargo ship;
• providing a bulk material loading and unloading device traveling on said rails.