Havator offers engineering, transportation and lifting

Finland-based Havator offers engineering, transportation and lifting services from a single source of supply. Alex Dahm reports.

Lifting and transport specialist Havator Group operates in Scandinavia, the Baltic countries and Russia. It offers crane rental, special transport and installation services.

Havator has been expanding its lifting and special transport capabilities for some time. Specialized transport capacity increased significantly when Transport Priuska became a 100% owned subsidiary of Havator Transport earlier in 2008. Havator Transport now employs more than 120 special transport professionals. Turnover of the whole Havator Group is more than €100 m (US$150 million) and the number of employees is around 550.

Havator Transport alone consists of more than 100 tractor units and 120 modular special trailers. It also has 104 lines of recently ordered Goldhofer self propelled modular transporter (SPMT) in use. Its capacity for a single load out is already more than 5,000 tonnes.

Havator Cranes' fleet includes mobile and crawlers. Its largest crawler crane is a Terex Demag CC/PC6800 with 1,250 tonnes lifting capacity.

Havator Group offers engineering services together with transportation, cranes as well as installations to demanding large industrial and civil engineering projects. DNV has audited and accredited the EQHS system of Havator Group according to ISO9001, ISO14001and OHSAS18001. This management system is built largely according to the experience and demands of international oil and gas projects.

Transport column

Havator Group met the challenge of transporting two oil-refinery reactor columns in Finland. IC reports. The destination for the two reactors that Havator was contracted to move was the Porvoo oil refinery. The job was carried out in co-operation with Neste Oil and Technip Offshore Finland.

The larger of the two reactors weighed more than 300 tonnes and detailed planning was an essential part of the project, says Havator.

The first phase saw Havator Transport load out the reactors from the Technip Offshore Finland workshop, using self propelled modular transporters (SPMT), directly to the transport vessel. The reactors were transported by sea to the refinery harbour.

The mobility of the SPMTs was demonstrated as they carried the vessels in the limited space available at the refinery. The reactors were then tandem-lifted using a 600 tonne Terex Demag CC 2800 crawler crane as the lead and an AC 350 all terrain as the tail crane.

"The long-term co-operation with the clients and the experience in the oil- and gas projects helped Havator to understand and fulfill the strict safety regulations," says Jussi Yli-NIemi, Havator Group CEO.

Rail rising

Replacement of railway bridges by lifting from land over water is an increasing area of business for Havator. Specialized transport is vital to the success of such operations. IC reports on recent jobs in Norway and Sweden.

In early September Havator Group's Terex Demag CC/PC 6800, claimed to be the biggest crane in Scandinavia, was used to lift a 95-year-old truss bridge in Sunne, Värmland, Norway. It was replaced by a single-span and a twin-span bridge, which were placed on the existing bridge's stone supports.

"To be able to carry out such heavy lifts from a single position on land simplifies bridge replacements like this. This is the way to go with heavy bridge replacements," says Johan Astgård, project manager from the turnkey contractor Lecor AB Stålteknik.

The bridge, in central Sunne, did not meet the traffic speed and safety requirements of a new railway network constructed by the National Rail Administration and, so, had to be replaced.

The CC/PC 6800 was assembled on Stora Torget, the main square in Sunne. Its main boom plus jib gave 126 m, designed to reach over Frykensundet sound. A 130 tonne auxiliary crane was used to lift other objects, explains Havator.

Gusty conditions

News of the historic bridge lift spread throughout Sunne, with the boom being visible for kilometres, according to Havator. "Many people had gathered. It was an historic moment, and they wanted to be there. The lift off the foundations was slow but sure, and the old bridge was carefully laid on a railway wagon. It was driven off a short way to be cut up, smelted down and eventually recycled," adds Havator.

The following days saw intensive preparations for the new bridge lift. Old bridge parts were lifted away, the three abutments were put in place and personnel from the National Road Administration laid new tracks to the abutments. However, gusty conditions one afternoon stopped the lift, which was postponed until early on the next morning.

Thankfully, when it came to lifting the 100 tonne twin-span bridge began, weather conditions were perfect. According to Havator, The lift went smoothly, and the bridge was lowered into place following some adjustments. Then preparations began to lift the second bridge section. Additional counterweight was placed on the crane and new rails were laid.

Railway traffic was set to make its way across the bridge for the first time on 8 September.