Mammoet Completes Large Modernization Project at Polish Refinery

Mammoet finished the last lift on a large modernization project at LOTOS refinery in Gdansk, Poland. LOTOS is one of the largest refineries in the country. This project is led by Italian process engineering contractor KT-Kinetics Technology, part of Maire Tecnimont Group. Mammoet was responsible for the transport and installation of multiple oversized and heavy components, such as a vacuum column, a fractionator and two coke drums.

EFRA project
The expansion and modernization project of the LOTOS refinery is a so-called ‘EFRA’ project - a project aimed at eliminating heavy residue out of the refinement process. The new additions to LOTOS’ production facilities will help them to produce an additional 900 thousand tons of high quality fuels and 300 thousand tons of petrochemical coke without increasing crude input volumes.

Heavy components
The components needed for the upgrade weighed between 60 and 294 metric tons and had lifting heights up to 113 meters. The first of these components arrived in the port of Gdansk during the second week of January. At the port, Mammoet transferred the components onto a barge, which subsequently transported them to the jetty at the refinery. From there, they were transferred onto SPMTs and moved to the construction site, where they were lifted and installed by an LR 11350 crane.

Creative intervention saves time
Mammoet’s Project Manager Simone Agostinetto explains: “Our activities - barging, transport, lifting and installation – had to be conducted according to a tight schedule, so we had to plan carefully, because even the smallest delays could have a big impact on the construction of the refinery.” This turned out to be a challenging task, because winters in Gdansk can be quite harsh. The team had to cope with snow and frozen rivers during the three months that the project took place.

Another challenge involved Mammoet’s LR 11350 crane which had to be relocated on site during the project. Taking it apart and re-assembling it elsewhere would be too time consuming. Instead, Mammoet chose to relocate the crane using the SPMTs that were on site for the transport operation. This intervention saved a significant amount of time and helped safely execute the whole project according to schedule.

Mammoet
Mammoet helps clients improve construction efficiency and optimize the uptime of plants and installations. For that purpose, Mammoet offers solutions for lifting, transporting, installing and decommissioning large and heavy structures in the petrochemical, offshore, power, and civil industries. We believe our business is about time: uptime, turnaround time and time to market. To our customers, time is the currency that matters most. That’s why we strive to bring their deadlines forward. It’s an integrated daily effort, shared by everyone at Mammoet, in every aspect of our services: creative engineering, careful planning and safe delivery.