Babcock’s safety first philosophy has resulted in its plant hire business receiving two orders from Air Products South Africa to install two 88-tonne cryogenic tanks at its plant in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal.
Following the first successful, incident-free heavy lift in 2017, Air Products contracted Babcock to undertake the transport, cranage and rigging to install a second cryogenic tank at the same plant this year. The cryogenic tanks are used to store CO2.
The second installation will be undertaken by the Liebherr LTM1500 500-tonne mobile crane and multi-axle trailer, which was also used for the first lift. Despite it being an extremely large crane used for heavy lifts, the Liebherr LTM1500 is quick and easy to erect.
Michael Hawkins, Heavy Lift Manager at Babcock, says that the first tank was installed within four hours using a team of four Babcock employees and six rigging specialists.
“The first installation for Air Products went so well that they requested we manage the entire project for the second tank, including transporting the tank from Germiston to Newcastle, cranage and rigging,” explains Michael.
Air Products manufactures, supplies and distributes industrial and specialty gas products and chemicals to customers in South Africa and internationally in the steel, stainless steel, chemical, petrochemical, and engineering industries.
Michael reports that in addition to providing incident-free heavy lifting services to Air Products, the company has successfully completed various other heavy lifts in the last few months. Babcock prides itself on its safety record, which currently stands at 20 years without a single product fail or injury.
Transnet
In February 2018 Babcock received an order from Transnet to upright an 180-tonne electric locomotive that had derailed in Katu. As the line could only be isolated for three hours, the recovery of the locomotive was undertaken utilising a Liebherr LTM1400 and LTM1500 in tandem to place the locomotive back on the tracks.
“We provided the cranage and rigging and the successful outcome has since resulted in our receiving further orders for locomotive recoveries from Transnet,” says Michael.
Sappi
Earlier this year Babcock was called on by Sappi Ngodwana to install ten evaporator columns, ranging in mass from 36 to 74 tonnes, as well as the offloading of a complex cooler weighing 95 tonnes. These lifts once again utilised the 500-tonne Liebherr LTM1500 mobile crane.
During Sappi Ngodwana’s annual shutdown in May, Babcock removed an existing cooler and installed a new cooler using a Liebherr LG1550; a 600-tonne lattice boom crane with 200-tonne counterweights on the carrier deck.
Footprint
The company is the largest empowered mobile crane and plant service provider in South Africa with a substantial fleet of cranes with lifting capacities from 8 to 600 tonnes. Specialities include the provision of mobile crane services, rigging equipment and expertise, abnormal transport, and welding and mechanical construction plant.
Babcock has a combined inventory of more than 40 000 items, distributed nationally and within the other South African Development Community countries, for a wide range of contracts ranging from infrastructure projects and mines to wind farms and marine projects.
The company moves equipment into place with a focus on safety and clear communication and planning, while its QR code scan and tracking system monitors the lifecycle of every single item of inventory, so as to have instant access to the items’ hire history, service intervals and related parts.
In addition, Babcock’s plant is serviced after every hire and inspections are carried out every three months to guarantee the highest in safety and operational standards.
Babcock, Michael Hawkins
Michael.Hawkins@babcock.co.za
