September 16 - UK-based global heavy transport and lifting company ALE developed an innovative self-erecting 60 m gantry system for the installation of a 51 m, 463 tonne deethanizer column in Peru, ALE's biggest piece ever lifted to date in that country.
Engineered for the Malvinas Plant expansion project in the Peruvian jungle, the gantry was stabilised by strand jacks and comprised two 500 tonne lifting units and tailing gantry with a hydraulic 500 tonne lifting unit for retaining. Installation was completed in nine hours.
The two tower gantry system meant that the amount of material on site was reduced from the typical 'A frame' system and it provided more flexibility to time scales than a crane would allow for.
This project presented several challenges for ALE as there is both a limited availability of cranes in Latin America and access to the site was also extremely restrictive. By designing a bespoke gantry, ALE provided the requisite capacity without the cost of importing a crane.
Hernán Asensio, ALE project manager, said: "We developed the self-erecting gantry so that it could be fully assembled on site to adapt to the limited river transportation. There were also no existing roads to the site."
ALE provides strategic heavy lift services to a wide range of sectors, including civil, oil and gas, energy, nuclear, offshore, renewables, petrochemical, ports, marine, minerals and metals and mining.
