Six of the best

In a busy year at Mammoet, the Netherlands-based company was involved in six major projects in Saudi Arabia – three of them in Rabigh, two in Yanbu and one in Jubail.

All the so called ‘Saudi Projects' included the installation of two rectifiers weighing 1,900 tonnes each and three splitters weighing 1,600, 1,500 and 1,450 tonnes each. The tallest splitter stood at 116 m, and was the last of five consecutive gantry lifts, said the company. Then there was the installation of two reactors weighing 1,200 tonnes, about 10 other vessels at about 1,000 tonnes each and a further 10 vessels between 450 and 850 tonnes.

Koos van Tol at Mammoet says, “Having signed the contracts with our clients, we started the detailed engineering in the second quarter of 2006 and also defined a mobilisation plan for our equipment to come from all over the world to Saudi Arabia.”

A dedicated team was assigned to each project, including a manager, engineer, safety engineer and supervisors, along with crane, trailer and rigging operators, explained van Tol.

He continues, “We organized some 86 shipments from just one 20foot container up to several ships fully loaded with our equipment. Of course, all the lifting and transport equipment had to be staffed by Mammoet operators and supervisors, which meant that, during the peak of the project from February until April 2007, at least 100 beds were occupied by imported Mammoet personnel, as well as 30 locally-hired personnel.”