As demand for crane hire services shift from building construction to oil and gas and utility projects, mobile crane and aerial work platform hire company Johnson Arabia is driving its new investments in that direction. Johnson Arabia’s most recent fleet expansion saw the addition of ten Grove RT550E rough-terrain cranes, two Grove GMK4100L and one Grove GMK5150L all-terrain cranes, mainly for oil and gas projects. The company plans to add more crawler cranes depending on market demand and increase its fleet size to over 250 cranes.
Mohammad Fareed Naser, executive manager, Dubai, Northern Emirates and Oman, Johnson Arabia, says: “The growth in the construction sector has plateaued, and we see more demand from the oil and gas sector, especially in Abu Dhabi and Fujairah. Upgrading cranes regularly is part of our fleet renewal process. For oil and gas projects, which have the highest safety standards and cranes older than 10 years are not approved for jobs, it’s all the more important to have the latest equipment.
As an approved supplier to energy companies in the UAE and with compliance to their in-country value (ICV) policies, we are fully equipped to bid for contracts in the energy and power sectors. Our ICV score has been increasing every year, which helps us and our partners win contracts.”
Here we look at two of the company’s recent energy and power projects in Dubai – the Al Aweer power station and Jebel Ali Refinery expansion.
Al Aweer power station
Construction of the fourth phase of the H-station at the Al Aweer power plant is underway in Dubai. The scope of work includes the erection, testing, and commissioning of three gas turbines, including three gas turbine generators and exhaust stack, to expand the capacity by 815MW. When complete, the power station will have a total capacity of 2,811MW.
Johnson Arabia has been executing lifting operations at the jobsite for the last twelve months with a combination of all-terrain, rough-terrain and crawler cranes. General material handling and lifting of steel and pipes are handled by rough-terrain cranes in the range of 50–100 tonnes and all-terrain cranes for loads up to 250 tonnes. The heavier lifts required for the assembly of the stack were carried out using a 350-tonne Demag CC2200 crawler crane.
The CC2200 was rigged in two configurations – main boom with SSL and SW. In the ‘superlift’ configuration (SSL), the CC2200 with main boom length of 60m lifted three exhaust stack silencer units weighting 75 tonnes. In the SW configuration, the crane had a main boom and luffing jib combination of 60m+30m to lift nine exhaust stack units weighting 40 tonnes.
“We opted for rough-terrain cranes because their compact, single-cab structure makes crane rigging and maneuvering easy, as the jobsite has space constraints. The CC2200 in its superlift configuration gave us the performance and lifting capacity to execute the bigger lifts,” says Mohammad.
At the peak of its lifting operations, Johnson Arabia had 10 cranes working for a period of six months.
“The most challenging task at the time was to complete the installation of nine stack units within two months, including lifting, assembly, welding, insulation and painting. As a power plant project, we had to train our operators to work with extreme caution and we conducted an internal session in theoretical knowledge and practical training for operators to practice maneuvers in the confined spaces,” says Mohammad.
Currently, five rough-terrain cranes are operating at the site. The CC2200 has been transferred to another jobsite in Dubai.
“The large lifts have been completed and the stacks and turbines have been erected. We expect the smaller lifting operations to go on for another 6 months,” says Mohammad.
Jebel Ali Refinery expansion
The project which lasted from 2017 to 2019 involved construction of a new condensate processing train at the Jebel Ali Refinery and expansion of its capacity by 50%, from 140,000 barrels per day to 210,000 barrels per day. The expansion work will include the construction of storage tanks and a 31,000 square foot warehouse.
Johnson Arabia executed over 80% of the lifts on the site with cranes and aerial work platforms. As this was an expansion project, existing refining operations could not be disrupted.
“We were involved in all lifting operations since inception of the civil works, all the way through up to erection and installation of the heavy components and equipment. We had been involved in all technical meetings with our main contractor and EPC contractor to discuss the lifting engineering, planning and crane selection,” says Mohammad.
At the peak of construction, Johnson Arabia had 30 cranes operating at the jobsite, including rough-terrain and all-terrain cranes with lifting capacities in the range of 30–500 tonnes and crawler cranes with lifting capacities in the range of 50–400 tonnes. The crawler cranes employed for the project included the Demag CC2400, Demag CC2200, Kobelco CKE2500, Manitowoc 999, and Liebherr LTR1100.
“The project lasted just over 24 months and our main challenges were tandem lifts in confined areas and completion of the lifting operations within the specified time frame. We executed them on time with thorough planning and coordination with the site team. As with any oil and gas project, we had to adhere to the highest safety standards by supplying the most competent and up-to-date equipment as well as trained operators. We provided safety tips to our staff, periodically, to comply with all the requirements of the project,” says Mohammad.
Working around COVID-19
Mobilising cranes amid the COVID-19 restrictions has been extremely challenging particularly to and from Abu Dhabi. To circumvent this situation, Johnson Arabia assigns operators and staff locally from its depots in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
“We have the advantage of having two depots and independent rigging and maintenance crews at each depot. We also maintain 30% additional manpower for emergency situations,” says Mohammad.
Mohammad explains the company’s COVID-19 protocols.
“All our machines are sanitized before they leave our yards or transported from one jobsite to another. We prefer to bring our cranes back to our yard, particularly long-term hire machines, after every project. This helps us do pre-delivery inspections, servicing, and sanitization of the cranes before their next job. However, when demand is high and customers cannot afford any delay at all, we send our maintenance and rigging crews to the site where they perform the inspection while dismantling the cranes in order to approve them for the next job. To minimize transmission, we have sufficient crews assigned to specific tasks. In some cases, when it is a mandatory requirement by contractors, our operators stay with the construction crew in their facilities,” says Mohammad.
