MUMBAI: Lift and Shift India Pvt. Ltd, a leading Heavylift Operator and Project Logistics Company in India operating over 7 decades, have achieved one more milestone by handling 17 nos Heavy-lift & Over-Dimensional cargo for Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Ltd (HURL), one of the prestigious projects of Govt. of India.
 
Larsen & Toubro Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE), Vadodara, a EPC contractor for the both the projects - Barauni and Sindri awarded the Multimodal transport contract to Lift & Shift India Pvt. Ltd, for transportation of 17 Nos Heavy-lift & Over-dimensional Cargo from fabrication yards in Vadodara, Hazira & Mumbai to HURL sites of Barauni and Sindri.
 
Lift & Shift scope of Multimodal operation comprised of :
1. Land transportation of the equipment from the Fabrication yard to the nearest port of Hazira, Dahej & Mumbai.
2. Load equipment on suitable barge/s and transport to Mumbai.
3. Chartering Heavy-lift vessel from Port of Loading to Kolkata port. 
4. Discharge of equipment from heavy lift vessel onto IV class barges, at Kolkata Port.
(Barges were modified / strengthened to withstand load of heavy equipment)  
5. Barging - River voyage (inland waterways) in the Ganges to Simaria / Sahibganj jetties.
6. Construction of suitable jetty at both locations. 
7. Roll-off at temporary jetty. 
8. Road transport the equipment to HURL, Barauni & Sindri sites.
 
The 17 equipment totaling to about 14,000 FRT / 3000 tons were the most critical equipment required for the Fertilizer plant complex and included the heaviest reactor (Ammonia Converter) of 600 tons and LP Flash Drum having height of 8.3 m.
 
A temporary jetty location identified and developed at Simaria for HURL Barauni site which was 8 kms for roll-off / discharge of 12 equipment, while the HURL Sindri site was about 230 kms from Temporary Jetty at Sahibganj, which was identified / developed for discharge of 5 equipment.
 
The 17 nos Heavy lift & ODC were moved in 2 lots.  
 
Challenges faced during the execution of the project :
1. Delay in fabrication of critical equipment caused some unexpected difficulties, like an overhead bridge under construction between Baroda & Surat, would be crossing the transport route between Bharuch to Dahej, the air clearance being only 5 m as against equipment height of 8.2 m or air clearance of 9 m, LTHE and Lift & Shift team met the authorities and requested to delay installation of girder to give sufficient time to transport these equipment, Lift & Shift developed a bypass for safe transport.
 
2. Dredging in the Ganges :
Sahibganj jetty, where the jetty was being, our team reported drastic reduction in water levels resulting in a requirement of dredging for the last 1 km of the inland waterways channel. Lift & Shift mobilized 2 dredgers and after continuous dredging for about 30 days the barge could reach the jetty for discharge.
 
3. Covid Lock down : 
Partial lockdown starting 3rd week of March 2020 and the Government of India declared a complete lockdown across India from 25th March 2020, Shipment of lot 2 were reaching the port for loading. This lockdown without notice put the entire team into disarray.  All activities were suddenly put on halt.  Lift & Shift team had to approach the concerned authorities at senior level and obtain special permission to operate and load cargo at Dahej / Mumbai port keeping all new safety norms and precautions to safeguard life of people.
 
4. April 2020 :
As 2nd shipment sailed to Haldia, section 144 was in force and restricted movement of more than 2 people together along with the Covid-19 fear peaking and tight lockdown norms across West Bengal, Lift & Shift made special arrangement to address the safety concerns by arranging an accommodation barge for the discharge operations and limiting movement of people every day this was with twin moto to avoid delays to ship and limiting exposure of people to virus and avoid daily travel of team members till the completion of the vessel.
 
5. Road transport from Sahibganj to Sindri site :
The equipment transport commenced during June, and with monsoon having commenced, the height of 8.2 m that required removal of electrical wires / leveled roads for safe transport became a challenge, as at times due to heavy rains the roads would get washed away requiring temporary civil works, sudden downpour would result in cancellation of transport movement as electrical shutdown was not possible and safe. The transport of 230 kms took about 50 days to reach the site.
 
Lift & Shift has always strived, achieved to meet the commitment to deliver the cargo safely and on time. In Spite of all the unforeseen challenges and unfavorable weather conditions Lift & Shift successfully delivered all 17 nos equipment safely to both the sites to the satisfaction of the LTHE.
 
Lift & Shift would like to extend its thanks to LTHE team at Vadodara who extended their unconditional support to make this gigantic task a success.
 
This apart Lift & Shift management has extended sincere gratitude to its team who in spite of difficult time of Covid lockdown and determined to and went ahead and executed the delivery of the equipment.

Source: dst.news