Details

King Lifting was awarded a contract by TGE Gas Engineering to complete a two-stage abnormal load move for two earth covered tanks (ECTs) from The Port of Bristol to the Flogas facility at Hallen, Avonmouth.

With each tank weighing 104 tonnes and measuring 31.2 metres in length by 4.3 metres in diameter, our scope included an extensive feasibility study to ensure that the tanks could be transported from the docks to the job site. This involved engagement with all the relevant stakeholders to seek approvals – including remedial works and the removal of street furniture to accommodate the move.

After many months of planning the tanks arrived at The Port of Bristol in October 2021 where they were discharged from the seagoing vessel in tandem using our Liebherr LTM1750-9.1 750 tonne and Liebherr LTM1500-8.1 500 tonne mobile cranes.

Once unloaded, the ECTs were moved from The Port of Bristol to the Flogas storage facility at the Hallen Avonmouth terminal. Due to permit restrictions, the journey could only be undertaken on a Sunday under police escort.

On arrival to site the ECTs were transported to a temporary storage area and offloaded with two 200 tonne cranes.

In March 2022 we lifted the ECTs out of storage with two mobile cranes – a 250 tonne Liebherr LTM1230-5.1 and a 300 tonne Liebherr LTM 1300-6.2. We then moved them to the installation area.

We used a Liebherr LTM1750-9.1 750 tonne and a Liebherr LTM1500-8.1 500 tonne telescopic boom crane to offload each tank on to specialist rotator equipment.

The boom guying feature of these cranes significantly increases the lifting capacities when operating with longer boom lengths at a greater radius. With the cranes working in tandem, each tank took six hours to lift, move and rotate to the correct orientation and place into their final position on a 4 metre high bed of sand. All works were completed to plan and on time following rigorous health & safety protocols, resulting in another successful heavy lifting engineered solution from King Lifting.