Hoisting valuable goods into place requires precision, balance, and unbridled confidence in the technology at hand, writes Matthew Scotland.
The heavy lift industry plays a vital role in the downstream process. Whether it is during the refining and process plant stage, when lifting of equipment, components and parts is required for the installation, running and maintenance of a facility; or the shifting of the finished products for final transportation to market: someone must be there to do the moving.
Not one for the feint hearted, the heavy lifting sector requires complicated moving of idiosyncratic items that can weigh hundreds, or even thousands of tonnes and cost substantial amounts of money.
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The companies that provide this service are therefore specialists with great experience and technical know-how for carrying out such operations.
Heavy lift
To lift up items which may weigh anywhere from a couple of tonnes to a couple of thousand tonnes – the equivalent of 16 000 barrels of oil or 200 lorries – specialist cranes, machinery and equipment must be used. One such specialist company, Terex Demag, can offer these solutions.
Terex Demag was formed when US industrial manufacturer Terex acquired German heavy lifting manufactures Demag in 2002. The company now specialises in the manufacturing of lattice boom cranes and telescopic cranes for extreme weights.
In October the company announced it had handed over the first unit of the world’s largest lattice boom crawler crane, the CC8800-1 Twin, to Al Jaber Heavy Lift, based in Abu Dhabi. The twin crane is capable of lifting in the region of 3527 tonnes, and according to the company will “revolutionise the construction of large industrial facilities.” Although new to the region, it surely will not be long before the CC8800-1 will be utilised in one of the many refinery builds taking place in the GCC.
“The Terex Demag CC8800-1 Twin represents a considerable saving of both time and space requirements in the erection of large industrial facilities – when compared with ring lift cranes and jacking towers,” says a company spokesperson.
Modulift, the British company that produces spreader beams – a beam which is attached to the item being lifted to spread the weight – carries out a large number of heavy lifts in the petrochemical sector.
The company offers unique spreader beams that can handle various lengths from 20 centimetres to 53 metres, and weights of two tonnes to 5000 tonnes. The beams themselves are modular – hence the name – allowing for various different lifting jobs and re-use of the beams. They have a strut length that can be altered for different lengths, and end units and drop links that are designed to be adaptable.
“What we produce is the spreader beam system, a modular spreader solution comprising of adjustable strut length and end units to fit a desired length for a user’s requirement on any particular project,” says Nick Latham, chairman and president, Modulift. “They are easily and readily changeable, and the flexibility and reliability of the system is what provides the benefits to the customer.”
Among Modulift’s largest projects was supplying spreader beams for the Terex Demag CC8800-1 Twin crawler crane mentioned before, each beam capable of lifting 1250 tonnes.
However, Latham is quick to assert that they also do a lot of business providing smaller beams for the lighter lifts, especially popular in petrochemical plant maintenance duties and heavy lift-outs.
“Modulift does lot of business in the petrochemical sector with smaller beams like the Modulift 6 and QuickJoint systems, used for heavy equipment and smaller components. But again what makes us unique is the flexibility of being able to change the length of the beam, so often our systems will be used for multiple jobs,” explains Latham.
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The market for Modulift beams is mainly in the downstream sector, either being sold or rented out to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). A large proportion of this business is conducted in the Middle East, including in projects for Saudi Aramco, Saudi Kayan and Shell Pearl. Indeed, Latham announces the company is in the process of opening a new centre in Saudi Arabia.
“We would not be focusing on the Middle East if there was not a significant market there, and KSA is the largest single market in the region. We hope to be operational in Saudi Arabia by March next year, which will be a JV renting out Modulift spreaders to the market with the crane companies doing the lifting,” ays Latham.
Despite the relatively grim looking economic situation throughout the world, Modulift has seen market growth in the company, and expects this to continue – particularly with the move to the Middle East looking likely.
“In recent years demand has been climbing. I think last year we had 35% growth and this year we expect 40-45%, or maybe even higher. Obviously in this climate I wouldn’t say it is unprecedented, but it is comforting. We will plan for continued growth while being very realistic about the economic climate in the world,” says a pragmatic Latham.
As for the future of the heavy lifting in the petrochemical sector, Latham believes that there will be some key drivers shaping the market over the following years.
“There are a number of factors: the size of the equipment that the refinery designers an process engineers design and produce, the ability of the lifting industry in its entirety to keep producing cranes that can cope with lifting these heavy loads, and at the other end of the spectrum there is the ability of the oil and gas industry to ensure demand stays high and business is available,” he says.
The boom in the petrochemical sector in the Middle East is, of course, largely to thank for the growth experienced by companies like Modulift – in face of a global credit crunch. As long as this growth continues, the lift operators will be there to lend-a-hand.
