09.09.2011

Maiden voyage/job for ALE barge

Heavy transport and lifting company ALE has added a new barge and 600 tonne Terex Demag CC 2800-1 crawler crane to its Middle East fleet. One of the first jobs for the barge involved the transportation of two de-methaniser vessels.

The 98 metre long vessels - part of the Integrated Gas Development Project in Abu Dhabi - were transported by sea from Mina Zayed Port to Ruwais and onwards by land to the Habshan 5 Process Plant.

ALE received the two 830 tonne vessels at Mina Zayed Port using two self-propelled modular transport (SPMT) 4 file, 12 axle and 4 file, 14 axle split trailer configurations. Measuring 98 metres long, 8.5 metres wide and eight metres high, the vessels were the largest ever handled at the port.
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Heavy transport and lifting company ALE has recently transportation two de-methaniser vessels using its new ALE 300 barge.

"A special feature of 300 is its deck loading capacity of 20 tonnes per square metre,” said Richard Peckover, executive director of ALE Middle East. “This maximises load capacity and minimises load spreading requirements.”

After load-in at the Ruwais Industrial Area Services Harbour, the de-methanisers underwent a ‘jack and pack’ operation. Using the SPMTs’ integral jacking stroke, each vessel was jacked up from 1.6 metres under the saddles to 3.1 metres in order to change to a bolster – or turn table – configuration.

“Transporting the vessels from Ruwais to the first parking area 12 kilometres from the city required a purpose built road which was constructed in coordination with Ruwais authorities, as well as a purpose-built section of the central reservation on the highway,” said Cameron Waugh, general manager at ALE. “Once we reached the first parking area we then had to change the SPMTs to a split trailer configuration to meet Department of Transport guidelines for the remainder of the journey along the highway.”

The 100 kilometres to Habshan took seven nights negotiating road works, bypasses, overhead gantries and sign boards. The entire transport took 21 days.

ALE initiated the build of the ALE 300 in June 2010 as an addition to its fleet in the Middle East, while the CC2800-1 arrived in July.