Mammoet has transported and installed a 400-ton (362.9-tonne) cracking column at Cepsa’s La Rábida oil refinery in southern Spain on behalf of Prism Logistics.
Prism Logistics was responsible for the ocean transport of the column, which was manufactured in India, to the port of Huelva as well as the land transport to the project site.
Mammoet utilised 24 axle lines of SPMTs to move the column from Huelva to the refinery. It also organised police and private escorts and ensured that no roads were closed during the transport.
According to Mammoet Spain branch manager Rafael Martinez: “Timing was an important factor during this project. With every hour of outage costing our client a small fortune it was essential that we executed the plan on schedule.
“Using public roads for the transit required two months of intensive communication with three major Spanish transport ministries, agencies and police to ensure that there were no delays.”
Once the column arrived at the refinery, Mammoet was tasked with its installation. Martinez explained: “The site was heavily congested, which made both the transport and installation challenging. Due to the lack of space, we were unable to use the standard crane for a lift of this size.
The positioning of critical pipework within the lift site meant that a super-lift or a backmast could not be used, dramatically reducing the available lifting capacity. Mammoet overcame this using a LR11350 crawler crane with a 340-ton (308.4-tonne) central counterweight.
