Mammoet uses floating crane to install bridge for the Red Sea Project
MTC 15 on a barge creates 500t capacity containerised sheerleg for the Red Sea Project’s Shurayrah island bridge installation work
Mammoet has begun the installation of 60 pre-cast bridge-beam and edge-beam segments on piers using a floating crane in the latest phase of the Red Sea Project.
The company proposed the method after being contacted by marine contracting specialist, Archirodan who initially wanted to install the bridge using SPMTs on a barge and suspension cylinders to lift and lower segments.
The alternative method allows the contractor to build the bridge faster by installing one section a day instead of one in two days, while providing increased flexibility and accuracy, the company said.
“It provides a simple yet effective way to lift heavy loads, both inland and in coastal waters and can be perfectly suitable to any civil project, on any local river or a lake,” added Mammoet’s Global Director Market Development and Innovation, Jacques Stoof.
The MTC 15 crane comes in standard shipping containers and can be easily shipped to any port, then assembled and erected in a matter of days. In this case, it was was shipped to the Port of Yanbu, where it was assembled on Archirodon’s 210-class barge and then sailed to the project site in Umluj, where its boom was raised, ready to lift the 400t bridge sections.
When completed, the bridge will stretch a total of 1.2km and will connect Shurayrah island to the mainland. A precast yard for bridge sections has been established near the coast to minimise travel distances with concrete sourced from on-site batching plants.
In February 2021, Mammoet expanded its crane fleet in the Middle East and Africa region, and in April 2021, the company announced that it transported two onshore oil rigs from the UAE to Oman. In October 2021, the firm said its new Focus 30 crane completed its first project.
