Sarens Deliver Over the 'Wild' River Vistula to Olefins Petrochemical Expansion Project - Long Read – Heavy Lift News
12 Apr 2024

Sarens Deliver Over the ‘Wild’ River Vistula to Olefins Petrochemical Expansion Project – Long Read

In December 2020, two of Sarens’ clients, Hyundai and Tecnicas Reunidas, formed a joint venture and contacted Sarens to perform logistics activities for the Olefins petrochemical expansion project on behalf of end client Orlen. The project would involve transporting over 100 pieces of equipment, some weighing up to 1,000t and measuring up to 110m long, from Gdansk to Plock, Poland.

Sarens looked at the challenge, there could be only one way to do it, and that would mean sailing down one of Europe’s last ‘wild’ rivers, the Vistula. The Vistula is considered ‘wild’ because, for at least some portions of its course, no classification can be granted. This meant that it would be close to impossible to guarantee safe passage over the 330km course of the river, let alone price out such an operation, there are too many unknown factors.

The 330km course would be a daunting challenge that presented countless unknowns. Any mistakes or miscalculations, and all would be lost. Without excellent knowledge of the river itself, a barge and its cargo might easily run aground or become stranded on a sandbank.

To find solutions and price out the project Sarens set up a team headed by their manager of maritime operations, Jan Willems, and engineering manager Peter Huygebaert. Together, they started working on the best technical solution for transporting the heaviest equipment at the lowest possible draft, accounting for the numerous bridges that a barge would have to pass along the way.

The river is frozen in winter and out of water in summer, so the only possible sailing windows would be spring and autumn. But the team needed assurance that transport along the river during those times would be safe. There would be nothing else to do but to sail it themself.

Sarens rented a small boat equipped with the necessary measuring tools and put together a sailing team that included Arkadiusz Brejt, Poland-based SP site supervisor; Andrzej Orent, the Polish captain responsible for marking the navigation channel from Wloclawek to Torun; Jan Willems, manager of maritime activities at Sarens; and Dimitri Laurent, project sales manager.

Over the course of four long days, sailing from sunrise to sunset and sometimes much later, the team began to understand why this river was still considered “wild.” It proved to be an extremely challenging and complex aquatic environment. Their boat touched the riverbed several times along the journey, crossed a local barge stuck on a sand bank, and faced strong winds along its course.

But with the journey finally completed, Sarens had a complete and well-documented technical report to add with their final offer to the client.

The challenges would not end with getting the loaded barges to the jetty in Plock. The jetty was constructed in the Soviet era and there was little information available concerning its strength. Also the 8km route from the jetty to the job site included a bridge, sloping roads, roundabouts, street lighting, high voltage overhead lines and underground gas pipelines.

Logistics company DSV would look after port operations in Gdansk, conventional road transport from Gdansk to Plock, and general freight from the jetty to the site. Sarens would provide special barges for critical items sailing from Gdansk to Plock, barge offloading at the quay in Plock, and transport over the last kilometres from the quay to the job site for critical items. Sarens and DSV would both also handle quay arrangement, road clearance, and relevant permits from the quay to the site.

Thanks to their extensive river survey, Sarens’ talented and committed team, and their key partnership with DSV–and after ten revisions to the official offer–Sarens received the Letter of Award in May 2022. This was close to 18 months after receiving the initial request for a quote, and the first technical investigations.

After being awarded the contract Sarens transferred the project from Sales to Operations, under the leadership of project manager Claude Jacobs.

 

 

 

As the jetty would not support cranes and the lifts, Sarns selected to optimise lift engineering and mobilise a 1250t Demag CC6800 crawler crane and a 650t crawler crane, with Kamag K24 SPMTs being used for the road transport.

The transport of the wash tower, a massive component weighing 900t and measuring nearly 100m long was the most critical operation. Sarens project sales manager, Dimitri Laurent, explains, “Transport of a 900t cargo is not easy. Transport of a 900t cargo in an urban environment is not easy at all. Transport of a 900t cargo in an urban environment, with a length of over 90m and an 8m diameter…this is a real challenge. Together with our partner DSV, we overcame the challenge and transported the wash tower over six kilometres for our client. Congratulations to all the team involved.”

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