October 17 - Friday the 13th might be unlucky for some, but not for Belgium-based heavy lift and specialised transportation company, Sarens, which selected that date to reveal its largest crane to date, the SGC 140.
A larger version of the company's SGC 120, which features in the latest issue of HLPFI, the fully erected crane was on display in the Port of Ghent, Belgium, at a large gathering of stakeholders, customers and suppliers held last Friday.
The crane is set to be transported to Kazakhstan, where it will be deployed for at least three years on the Tengizchevroil TCO project.
Whilst both cranes have a maximum lift capacity of 3,200 tonnes, the SGC 140 can lift greater weights at a longer radius.
During the event, Wim Sarens, the company's ceo, revealed that an even larger version, the SGC 250, is on the drawing board and should be ready for use in 2019.
Whilst the main boom was erected to an impressive 118 m for the launch event, it can be extended to a maximum of 130 m, and a jib of up to 99.5 m in length can be added.
Although the SGC 140 will be fully occupied in Kazakhstan for at least the next three years, Sarens said that its uses include all types of significant civil engineering works including in petrochemical and power plants, on bridge construction, and at fabrication yards.
When Sarens signed the contract for Tengizchevroil, it was the largest in its history, as HLPFI reported here.
The contract includes the land transportation and installation of the pre-assembled units and racks, plus associated oversize equipment. Sarens is contracted to develop and operate two transshipment bases, one in Finland and one in Bulgaria, where cargo will be offloaded from oceangoing vessels and reloaded onto smaller Russian inland waterway vessels for onward delivery into the region.
At the Kazakhstan site, Sarens will offload, store, stack, and transport the modules to their final installation points. Sarens is deploying its own personnel, as well as contracting local specialists.
