Ain Sukhna Product Hub

Een eersteklas energiehub

De joint venture BESIX-Orascom bouwde de Ain Sukhna Product Hub, een drie kilometer lange F-vormige aanlegsteiger. Deze faciliteit, gelegen in de Golf van Suez, is van groot strategisch belang voor de regio. Onze Engineering-afdeling stelde snel haar grootste ontwerpteam voor maritieme werken samen om aan de moeilijke engineering te beginnen van dit project.

Fast track project

BESIX’s pride jack-up barges, along with other equipment from our fleet as well as externally rented equipment, were mobilized quickly from Saudi Arabia and our Marine Base in Ajman (UAE). They progressed with driving of the first of the 420 piles at record speed, in order to allow the FSRU vessel to berth. As part of a variation order, the works included all mechanical and electrical works to make this achievement possible, such as firefighting systems, a control building, CCTV, lighting and all the power supply.

The fast track nature of the project combined with the additional M&E works represented a major challenge in terms of timely design, procurement and construction. On the other hand, completing the remaining part of the trestle and the second berth whilst live gas supply and regasification was ongoing, had its own constraints and difficulties.

Swiftly serviceable

It only took 5.5 months to deliver a fully operational first berth, counting from the first pile being driven until completion including all M&E works and commissioning. For this, 221 piles were driven in 126 days. To accomplish these works in the required timeframe, 3 jackups have been mobilized. In addition, 3 crane barges, 7 supply barges and 7 tugboats are on site to carry out support and ancillary tasks.

The first 500 metres of the jetty were originally designed as a rock dumped causeway. Due to liquefaction issues encountered during the soil investigation, this was changed last minute to a piled jetty. For methods reasons, a bored piled option was chosen using 1.5 metre diameter piles.

Additional berth

The original contract comprised two berths: one for LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) through an FSRU (Floating Storage and Regasification Unit) and one for LPG and fuel oil. The client, Sumed, subsequently awarded an order for a 3rd berth.

The LNG berth was handed over on the 30th of April, 2017. The FSRU berthed shortly after and since end of May gas is pumped into the Egyptian grid. This means that the remainder of the works had to be completed in a ‘live’ environment, adding some more complexity to the mix.

On 16 November 2017, the BESIX-Orascom teams received the provisional acceptance from client Sumed. This means the project was delivered almost three weeks ahead of schedule despite the tight deadline!

The dedication and close cooperation between the various BESIX and Orascom departments, situated between Dubai (UAE), Brussels (Belgium), Lisbon (Portugal) and Cairo (Egypt), as well as the perseverance of the site team, have been the drivers in the successful completion of this project.

Learn more about this project in our Activity reports 2017 (p74-75-76-78-79)

Go to our Activity Reports page

We konden de twee kilometer lange aanlegsteiger in slechts vijf en een halve maand bouwen enkel en alleen dankzij de uitzonderlijke teamgeest en de nauwe samenwerking tussen de klant en de verschillende afdelingen van BESIX en Orascom. Dit project zal ongetwijfeld de norm zetten voor toekomstige aanbestedingen en de competitieve voorsprong van BESIX versterken in een steeds veeleisendere markt.