Two recent energy sector projects, one at a new powerplant in Altbach, Germany, and another during critical maintenance at ExxonMobil’s Fawley refinery in the UK, highlight how Mammoet’s engineering ingenuity, logistical expertise and wide equipment portfolio come together when space is scarce and the stakes are high. From just-in-time delivery and temporary marine infrastructure to the use of a self-erecting pedestal crane designed for ultra-confined facilities, these cases demonstrate the company’s ability to orchestrate complex operations safely, efficiently, and with minimal disruption to ongoing site activity.
In October 2025 Mammoet was approached to assist EnBW in constructing a new powerplant in Altbach, Germany. The new combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) fuel-switch plant will serve as a energy facility capable of operating on natural gas, hydrogen, or blends of the two, instead of coal.
Space here was a primary consideration. The facility is being built adjacent to an existing coal-fired powerplant which forms part of Germany’s strategic power reserve and must therefore remain operational at all times.
Maximising space and minimising disruption became the foremost priorities.
JUST-IN-TIME
The initial challenge was determining how to transport the heavy items to the construction site and where to store them. Although a storage area was available on-site it was insufficient to accommodate the needs of this project.
A just-in-time approach was implemented which significantly alleviated congestion at the site during the construction process but still left a large list of components to deliver and insufficient space to store them. Mammoet proposed temporarily storing the largest items at its storage yard in Schiedam, in the Netherlands.
Transported to Schiedam by sea the components were subsequently marshalled, stored, scheduled for delivery, and shipped to Altbach just-in-time on specialised rivergoing vessels.
The river Neckar runs alongside the powerplant, which has an existing jetty. However, utilising this jetty as a transshipment point was not feasible.
“This existing jetty serves as the primary delivery point for all coal transported by boat and rail,” says Andreas Franzke, senior sales manager segment lead power & nuclear at Mammoet. “Using it would have significantly interfered with the activities at the existing plant. We conducted a study for EnBW to explore alternative solutions. Based on this we proposed constructing a temporary jetty directly in front of the construction location. This would position the main crane in an optimal location to facilitate both the transshipment and installation of the components.”
The temporary jetty enabled the main crawler crane to operate continuously facilitating the offloading of the components and their subsequent installation.
Among the components stored, shipped, and installed in this way were HRSG modules, a generator, a gas turbine, a transformer and stack modules.
The 15 HRSG modules, weighing between 80 and 250 tonnes, presented a particular challenge due to their 30 metre length, which rendered them exceptionally fragile.
“It is a flexible module that does not tolerate deformation and therefore had to be kept perfectly straight at all times,” explains Leonid Sinelnikov, project manager at Mammoet. “We meticulously examined every stage of their handling to ensure they remained undamaged. This included ground preparation at Schiedam and the use of specialised lifting beams and rigging tools for their transportation and offloading.”
Two crawler cranes, a main 1,350t crane and a 600t tailing crane, were used to move the HRSG modules from a horizontal to a vertical position. Additionally, the modules had to be lifted over the top of a building.
ZERO TOLERANCE
The installation of the 400MW gas turbine presented another complex challenge. A late requirement specified that its base plate had to be perfectly level throughout the process due to the construction of its supports.
“This is not standard practice for a cargo exceeding 350t,” noted Sinelnikov. “Heavy steel rigging typically allows for some tolerances. Massive slings and grommets are never exactly the same length and so would not meet the precise tolerances required by the client.”
To address this strand jacks were integrated into the crane’s rigging enabling the team to level the unit during the lift prior to installation.
The six stack modules, which combine to form a large chimney, were among the most logistically challenging components to deliver as they had to be transported via a public road.
These sections were prefabricated off-site and transported using two 12-axle lines of Mammoet Self-Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMTs). The team identified the optimal route to minimise site modifications conducting a 3D scan of the path from the fabrication site to the final installation location.
The scan showed that the modules, measuring up to 18m in height and weighing 95t, had to be elevated onto a support structure to provide sufficient clearance and reduce on-site preparations.
Although the units needed to traverse just 75m of public road the preparation and planning required several weeks.
It’s clear from the above that with so many complex components needing to be delivered to an active site where multiple contractors were working simultaneously success rests on meticulous planning, careful execution, and clear communication. A genuine team effort was needed to deliver the comprehensive end-to-end solution.
Another example in which space was limited and congestion an issue was a maintenance project at ExxonMobile’s Fawley refinery in Hampshire in the UK.
Refineries often need to operate from their existing footprint and sites can become congested as existing space is allocated for new process equipment as the capacities of refineries are increased to feed growing energy demands. Over time this makes maintenance more complex.
With a facility full of live and tightly packed critical equipment safety becomes a key priority, closely followed by efficiency.
When essential maintenance activity is required some operations at the site must halt; any unnecessary downtime can therefore add significant cost to a project.
Part of such activity at Fawley required the exchange of a 356-tonne reactor head in the FCC (Fluid Catalytic Cracker) unit.
Mammoet used its self-erecting Focus30 pedestal crane, which performed the operation with speed and with ease, taking less time than other cranes while using a footprint only slightly larger than a five-a-side football pitch.
In 2006 Mammoet had supported the exchange of a regenerator at the same site. On that occasion a PT50 ring crane was used, which had a significantly higher load moment and smaller footprint than commercially available crawler cranes at the time. Despite this its boom had to be carefully assembled over live pipework as there was not enough free space to construct it at ground level.
VERTICAL ERECTION
Eighteen years on, with even less site space to carry out this project, Mammoet’s engineers suggested using the Focus30.
Dubbed ‘the crane that builds itself’ it has been specifically designed to perform heavy lifting in facilities with complex infrastructure and limited space.
This high-capacity pedestal crane has a boom that is erected vertically in sections, instead of horizontally. Each boom section is inserted like a jacking cartridge before being lifted to make room for the next underneath. This not only allows for faster assembly but also means that the crane can be built in a footprint measuring just 34 by 42 metres.
It also means that the crane’s boom does not need to be laid flat before erection, potentially blocking access roads on site.
VISUALISING SUCCESS
At the planning stage Mammoet’s engineers conducted a full 3D scan of the refinery’s reactor and, using in-house planning software Move3D, created a visualisation of the project to show how the pedestal crane would be positioned and utilised on site.
Using this software in combination with 3D scan data they were able to identify any clashes in the highly congested site. The lift’s close proximity to an absorption column demanded a level of scrutiny and accuracy that could not be provided by a traditional 2D approach.
By carefully positioning the Focus30 crane around existing infrastructure hardly any alterations were needed in the field. Only one large pipe was identified early in the engineering process and this was then removed without delay.
Mammoet designed a specialist lifting beam that could be inserted through the top nozzle of the reactor head and clamped to its interior. The lifting beam had two large lifting pads that carried the reactor top from the inside of its plenum. This methodology provided a sure grip of the reactor head as it was lifted.
The Focus30 was configured with a divisible Superlift tray of 900t and 400t sections, which made movement of the ballast fast and simple and made sure that the crane did not need to slew over live pipe racks with the load.
The Focus30 has 30,000 tonne-metres of load moment yet has only one-sixth of the footprint compared to currently commercially available crawler cranes with comparable strength.
It is also much less susceptible to high winds than alternative crawler cranes. These typically have to boom down at around 16 m/s wind speeds causing significant disruption on site. By storm anchoring itself to its own outriggers, Mammoet says the Focus30 can withstand conditions more than twice as harsh, giving project owners peace of mind against significant wind delays.
The pedestal crane solved three of the biggest challenges that plant owners face: lifting capacity, space, and time. “It takes around three to four weeks to assemble the Focus30,” said Koen Totté, sales manager at Mammoet. “By comparison a heavy lift crawler crane would have taken around five weeks. We would also have needed to build its boom over the pipe rack which would have been very time consuming and added risk due to working at a height of around ten metres over this live plant. With the Focus30 we could work from inside the crane’s footprint and not have to work at great height, making it a much quicker and safer alternative”.
Across both projects one theme stands out: when space is limited and complexity is high, meticulous planning and thoughtful engineering are just as essential as lifting power. At Altbach and Fawley Mammoet demonstrated how innovative equipment, advanced digital modelling, and carefully coordinated logistics can transform highly constrained environments into workable project sites without compromising safety or schedules.
From temporary jetties and just-in-time river transport to self-erecting cranes designed for the tightest of industrial footprints, these solutions reflect a broader industry shift toward smarter, more adaptive lifting strategies.
As facilities become denser, infrastructure grows older, and project timelines tighten, the ability to execute heavy lifts with minimal disruption will only become more valuable.
In both cases the success of the work rested not on a single machine or manoeuvre but on a collaborative approach that aligned engineering, operations, and on-site teams from start to finish. For non-renewable sector energy companies preparing for the next generation of upgrades and maintenance the lessons are clear: with the right preparation and the right partners, even the most challenging lifts can be delivered safely, efficiently, and with confidence.
