Transportation of three production separators, UAE

Overview

ALE has transported three production separators from the manufacturing yard in Jebel Ali in Dubai to Bab Gas Expansion Project in Bab Habshan in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Services Required

The production separators ranged in weight, with one weighing 230t and the two others weighing 157t.

When a route survey was carried out, it identified several different obstacle in the route path. This included crossing a live gas pipeline, immersing a motorway and crossing the Eithad railway – making the separators the first heavylift items to cross this railway.

In order to overcome these route challenges and comply with the different ground load restrictions, four different trail configurations were utilised including 18 axle lines of conventional trailers in 2 file and 4 file configurations, and SPMTs in a configuration of 32 axle live in 4 file and 14 axle lines in 4 file.

The separators were transported individually during the night from the manufacturing yard in Jebel Ali 160km to the Bab Gas Expansion Project in Abu Dhabi. Once they had been transported to the Port of Jebel Ali, they were loaded onto the ALE 300 barge and transported to Mussafah in Abu Dhabi. These were then offloaded and prepared for night transportation by negotiating the limited space within the industrial estate, across the gas pipeline and across the Etihad railway.

Being the first company to transport a heavylift item across the railway, ALE faced many challenges and needed to ensure that a safe method had been engineered.  ALE’s project management team worked closely with the other involved companies and authorities to obtain the relevant permissions to cross. In order to cross, a bridging arrangement was constructed across the track. It took the team seven hours to build, transport the separators, dismantle the arrangement and survey the track, ensuing the track was in its original condition.

Once safely over the obstacle, the separators were at the final stage of transportation and were successfully delivered to site in a safe and timely manner.