Manage cargo group categories

You can create categories for cargo groups. This allows you to put constraints on the amount of material in a cargo group that is processed at a given plant node.

The use case for this feature is based on receiving cargoes at a port and then having the cargoes shipped via a pipeline that services multiple plants. Due to operational or logistical reasons, you may want to define a range of how much of any one cargo can be delivered to any site along that pipeline segment.

Follow these steps to create and assign a category:

1. Go to the Cargo Groups tab.

2. Click Manage in the Categories group of the Home ribbon tab. The Cargo Supply Category dialog opens.

3. Click the button to add a category. A new category is added to the list.

4. To rename the category, click the category name and type the new name.

5. Click Close.

6. To assign the category to a cargo group, select it from the Category column in the Cargo Groups tab.

Once you have categories assigned to cargo groups, you can put constraints on the amount of material processed at a given plant from a given category.

These cargo distribution constraints are mostly tied to the category or type of crude that is associated with a cargo. For instance, there may be limits depending on whether the cargo is high or low sulphur. To streamline data entry, this feature allows you to apply the constraints to a category instead of every single cargo.

Follow these steps:

7. Go to the Cargo Distribution tab.

8. Each row is one of the possible combinations between categories and plant nodes. Identify the row corresponding to the category and plant you want to put constraints on.

9. In the chosen row, select the check box in the first Active column, to the left of the Category column.

10. If desired, change the unit of measure in the UoM column.

11. Select the check box in the Active column for the type of constraint you want to set (Minimum, Maximum or Fixed).

12. Enter the constraint value in the Value column.

13. Repeat steps 5 and 6 to add more constraints. You can have both a Minimum and a Maximum constraint, but a Fixed constraint excludes other constraints.

The following image shows that between 10 and 40% of the material in any cargo group belonging to the Low Sulphur category is going to be processed at the Corsicana plant.