It is different to accurately grasp the status and position of coal running on belt conveyor in the process of loading and unloading operation in coal port,which causes low efficiency,high safety risk and inaccurate sprinkler and dust removal.Based on the analysis of the characteristics of coal loading operation process and transportation equipment in Huanghua Port,this paper proposes a material flow tracking system for belt conveyor.By installing corresponding material flow detection devices along the process line,adding remote stations in the transfer rooms,designing PLC control algorithm to process the collected data,the system displays the results on the man-machine interface of shiploader operation in real time.The results show that the system can accurately detect the distribution position of material flow on the conveyor belt.The error between the system and the real distribution position of material flow is less than 20 m,and the detection accuracy is 99%.It effectively improves the efficiency of loading and unloading process,reduces coal spilling at the belt junction,and ensures the safety of semi-automatic and automatic loading process.