The Jumbo-SAL-Alliance has commenced its scope of work in the Basrah Refinery Upgrading  Project for JGC Corporation. It is one of the largest projects ever undertaken by the Alliance. The Jumbo Javelin loaded the first of 19 transports at Dahej India.

Dedicated vessels

The project will see the Jumbo-SAL-Alliance undertake the transportation of a total of 450,000 freight of cargo for its client. Jumbo Kinetic, with two 1,500 t cranes, and SAL Heavy Lift’s MV Svenja, with two 1,000 t cranes will be dedicated to the project for the duration of the transportation scope.

During this time, the two vessels will undertake seven voyages each, providing the project with full flexibility and control of logistics. Sailing schedules are firmly fixed so that all parties within the logistical cycle know well in advance when which cargo will be collected and delivered.

The two vessels, with deadweight tonnage of 14,000 t and 12,500 t respectively, are strong enough to handle all modules and small enough to be able to access the restricted Morimatsu plant in Nantong, China, where much of the cargo will be loaded.

Stronger together

In addition to the two vessels committed to the project, the Jumbo-SAL-Alliance will provide vessels to conduct additional five voyages. With its combined fleet of thirty vessels, the Alliance can offer JGC a vessel with the required capabilities and service level each time, while also ensuring its ability to continue to serve other clients.

Mr. Kiharu Yamashita, Project Logistics Manager of Basrah Project, JGC explained: “Having the two dedicated vessels for the duration of this phase gives us visibility, ensuring that we can remain on schedule. Jumbo-SAL-Alliance who can accommodate the size and capability required for this project is indispensable for the successful delivery of the project to our client.”

Conducting consecutive runs, the Jumbo-SAL-Alliance will transport a range of items from locations in India, China, Thailand, and Korea. Amongst the cargo will be 80 modules. Here, the Alliance will draw upon its experience of using module lifting frames.

This will be applied by using JGC’s in-house designed frame, which is specially developed for lifting modules at the Morimatsu facility. The shipments will also include transportation of 31 pieces of equipment including a regenerator, vacuum columns, a fractionator, and seven 800 t bullet tanks, each one 82 m in length.

Total project focus

The Jumbo-SAL-Alliance began preparations for the project back in 2019, with the provision of engineering support. This included the design of four different loading spread mats,covering the various vessel types to be used, cargo footprint and location of the cargo on the vessel.

As the project is undertaken in consecutive runs with the same vessels, the load-spreading material can be recycled (re-used) each time, offering optimal cost-efficiency.

Laurens Govers, Commercial Manager at Jumbo-SAL-Alliance: “In every project that we undertake we consider not only the costs of transportation, but also the total project cost. With this project, our early involvement played a considerable role in this. We were able to work along with the client in tweaking the sailing schedule and suitable vessel rotations to match the vessels and maximise efficiency.”

Preparations for the project included the creation of a hybrid contract servicing the needs of both parties and tackling the potential challenges of operating in the Basrah region. As this is still considered a hostile environment, the two companies had a particularly keen focus on safety.

With the performance of the main logistical scope for the Basrah project, the Jumbo-SAL- Alliance is showcasing its ability to act as a full-service logistical provider for complex and larger project scopes. Supported by solid in-house engineering, project management, live QHSE procedures and protocols and, above all, experienced crew, the Alliance aims to ensure that cargo is handled, and sea fastened for safe delivery, on time and on budget. Building the future

JGC is carrying out an EPC scope in the refinery upgrading project on behalf of the South Refineries Company, an energy company under the Iraq Ministry of Oil. JGC’s scope includes  construction of a fluid catalytic cracking unit (34,500 bpd capacity), a vacuum distillation unit (55,000 bpd) and a diesel desulfurization unit (40,000 bpd).

The new facility will be located adjacent to the current Basrah refinery and will provide plant facilities that meet the international environmental standards.  Funds for the project have been provided by a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It is the largest Japanese assisted reconstruction project since the 2003 Iraq War. For JGC Group, it is the second project in the country since their completion of a power plant reconstruction in 2013.

The upgraded refinery will help to close a supply-demand gap for Petroleum products in Iraq, reducing the country’s dependence on imports. It will also contribute to reconstruction and economic growth, not least in the creation of several thousand jobs both for the construction and operation of the refinery.

Jumbo Offshore has completed the transportation and wet storage of a riser caisson for Technip FMC. Jumbo carried out the job in October, deploying its heavy-lift vessel Fairplayer to handle the 120- metre long and 1.3-metre diameter caisson.

The Fairplayer picked up the caisson from the Scottish port of Nigg, an operation that demanded a finely-tuned rigging arrangement due to the high flexibility of the caisson. To this end, each of the Fairplayer’s 900-tonne cranes used double slings and a total of five connection points.

After transporting the caisson to the offshore location, Jumbo then executed the wet storage scope of the project. Wet storage is the temporary storage of offshore components on the sea bed, which in the case of this particularly delicate caisson, called for careful operations. The offshore scope was the most challenging, says Jumbo’s Project Manager Carol Granneman: “Due to the motions of the waves and the
buoyancy of the caisson, the most critical moment was when we lowered the caisson through the splash zone,” he says. “And then we had to lower it evenly through the water column to avoid excessive stresses in the caisson.”

The preparatory engineering of this project is also notable. Having worked together on numerous occasions in the past, Technip FMC and Jumbo Offshore have a good working relationship. For this riser caisson project, the two companies worked together on the project engineering. Technip FMC carried out the calculations for the rigging, and Jumbo worked on the vessel-specific calculations regarding the
Fairplayer’s movement at different phases of the operation.

Once positioned on the seabed, Jumbo used an ROV to disconnect the caisson, leaving two rigging points in position to allow Technip FMC to pick it up for installation at a later date.

“This job involved the careful handling of fragile offshore equipment. But with our experienced crews and engineering teams, combined with the dual cranes of the Fairplayer, Jumbo Offshore had the technical capabilities and offshore expertise that made this precision operation a success,” notes Granneman. “Technip FMC is a very valued client of ours and we look forward to working with their team in the future.”

Sarens loads-out 11km long mooring heavy chains and around 50 cable reels for FLNG / Gas Project on Area 4 in Mozambique.

This past June 2021 until September 2021 Sarens was on-site in Maputo, Mozambique to perform and assist on load-out of mooring heavy chains and reels for the FLNG/O&G Project at Area 4 on Mozambique coast.

Floating plant for liquefying natural gas with a capacity of 3.4 million tonnes, Project is located off the coast of Mozambique and is scheduled to begin production in 2022. This will be the world’s deepest FLNG facility with wells drilled nearly 2000 meters deep. Six wells in total will flow into the liquefaction unit.

Sarens deployed its CC1100 after careful swing test during the planning phase. The CC1100 crawler crane was selected with the LH configuration, 7,25m tracks, 80T counterweight, and 42m main boom for a 24-hour operation. A special hook block with 250T capacity was mobilized from Belgium for this operation. The remaining equipment was already present at the Maputo Port for a recently completed project.

106,1T, 112,6T, and 133,6T mooring heavy chains had to be lifted out of a 4m high basket. Along with the mooring chains Sarens had to lift around 50 cable reels about 59T.

According to Country Manager, Mozambique, Joao Custodio, “We are grateful to our client for the opportunity to participate in the major O&G project taking place in Mozambique. We are thankful to our team working on the project for executing the job safely.”