The invention provides a bucket-conveyor device suitable for emptying bulk materials from a ship's hold, comprising an endless chain conveyor having buckets fixed to spaced links which are emptied as the buckets pass over an upper return pulley. In order to control the direction of emptying of the buckets and thereby minimize spillage of the bulk material, discharge chutes are pivotally articulated to the upper return pulley at intervals corresponding to the spacing of the buckets.