Ship loader or Shiploader is designed as one of the port material handling equipments that is used for loading different sizes of vessels berthing at ports continuously with coal, iron ore, cement, grain and other bulk materials. Normally belt conveyors are used in ship loading equipments in a continuous action to move bulk material product from dock conveyors onto the vessels.

Traveling ship loader is usually mounted on a pair of rails that are parallel to the dock and the ship and are fed by conveyor belts incorporating a tripper that travels with the shiploader. The dock conveyor runs the length of the dock and the tripper conveyor travels with the ship loader as the unit moves on the dock to load the different ship’s holds. Belt conveyors are used on the luffing boom, and a shuttle head is also used to facilitate complete loading of the different areas of a ship’s hold. A rotating spoon is also adopted to facilitate the discharge spout accessing selected areas as the ship is loaded, which allows the operator greater flexibility when placing the material.