June 2 - Mammoet has completed the last lift of a modernisation project at Lotos refinery in Gdansk, Poland.
The expansion and modernisation project, the EFRA project, is led by Italian process engineering contractor KT-Kinetics Technology and aims to eliminate heavy residue out of the refinement process while adding to Lotos' production facilities.
Mammoet was responsible for the transport and installation of oversized and heavy components, including a vacuum column, a fractionator, and two coke drums. The components weighed between 60 and 294 tonnes and had lifting heights up to 113 m.
The first components arrived in the Port of Gdansk where Mammoet transferred the machinery onto a barge, which subsequently transported them to the jetty at the refinery. From there, they were transferred onto self-propelled modular transporters (SPMT) and moved to the construction site, where they were lifted and installed by a Liebherr LR 11350 crawler crane.
Mammoet's project manager, Simone Agostinetto, explained: "Our activities - barging, transport, lifting and installation - had to be conducted according to a tight schedule, so we had to plan carefully, because even the smallest delays could have a big impact on the construction of the refinery."
According to Mammoet, this turned out to be a challenging task, due to the harsh winters in Gdansk, meaning the team had to cope with snow and frozen rivers during the three months that the project took place.
In order to keep to the time schedule, Mammoet relocated the LR 11350 crawler crane on site using SPMTs, rather than taking it apart and reassembling, which it claims saved a significant amount of time.
