A behemoth on the Black Sea
27 December 2012Sarens used Cavotec radio remote controls to help guide two enormous fuel reactors from the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas to the Lukoil Neftochim oil refinery.
Sarens was commissioned to transport the reactors to the refinery, and then install them on site. As the 57m long, 9m high, vessels would need to be transported through the streets of Burgas, the job was timed outside of the tourist season, allowing for street lights, traffic lights, and other street furniture to be removed and power cut off to high tension cables. A single journey took 38 hours to complete.
The 1,400t vessels were moved through the streets on 60-axle-line, Kamag SPMTs, at speeds of up to 5kph, controlled using a Cavotec remote control system.
Once at the refinery site the reactors were lifted using Saren's Sartower, configured as four towers of 70m high with two beams of 40m length, equipped with a skidding system, with the vessels tailed by two crawler cranes, a Terex CC 2800-1 and a Liebherr LR 1600-2.
Sarens had worked on the same site for two other major projects, installing vessels with a CC 2800 in 2004, and performing another transport and installation job in 2008.
