Junttan PM26 rigs in Polish LNG terminal work
Strategic location
The Polish government is building a new LNG (= Liquid Natural Gas) terminal. The terminal is being constructed at Swinoujscie near Szczecin in the western part of Poland's Baltic coast (West Pomeranian region).
Liquid Natural Gas has nowadays an increasing role as a source of energy. The advantages of the Swinoujscie location include lower costs to receive big ships and freight compared with those in Gdansk. There are also large gas consumers, such as power stations and chemical plants, in the immediate vicinity.
Around EUR 950m was secured for Poland's first LNG project in March 2010. Construction is scheduled for completion in June 2014. In January 2008, after a long period of consultation, Canadian LNG engineering specialist SNC-Lavalin was chosen by the Polish natural gas distributor Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo (PGNiG) to carry out the front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for Poland's first LNG import terminal.
Technical aspects
The Polish gas distributor PGNiG schedules to complete the construction of the new terminal and bring it on-stream by June 2014.The new terminal is expected to initially receive 2.5 billion cubic metres of liquefied gas annually. The LNG terminal will be fully equipped with unloading jetty for large LNG tankers (with a boil-off and re-condensing facility), two storage tanks and re-gasification train to produce gas at the correct pressure for the grid.
Aarsleff Sp Z o.o. in Poland is a local deep foundation contractor, belonging to Aarsleff Group which has its head office in Denmark. “For more than 40 years, Aarsleff has developed the competencies and equipment to build harbours, ferry berths, coastal protection and embankments”, tells René Mølgaard Jensen from Aarsleff”. Today, Aarsleff is the leading and trendsetting contractor in Northern Europe within production and driving of concrete piles, establishment of complete cofferdams as well as installation of sheet piles. “We want to keep that position and develop further”, states René Mølgaard Jensen. “As part of this industrialisation, Aarsleff aims at a uniform pile production certified for quality. Against this background, we have our own pile factories in Denmark, England, Poland and Sweden”, ends René Mølgaard Jensen.
The LNG project is carried out in collaboration with Boskalis International BV from the Netherlands, Hochtief Construction AG from Germany, and Doraco from Poland. Aarsleff’s share of the total contract value is approx. DKK 400 million. Aarsleff’s work includes stone and concrete work as well as installation of sheet piles, concrete piles and combiwall. Aarsleff Sp Z o.o is installing piles onshore and also offshore. Offshore the work is done by using jack up barges from Aarsleff in Denmark. There are two Junttan PM26 pile driving rigs on duty in the project. The Junttan PM26 rigs are driving piles with HHK5/7/9A hydraulic hammer and in vibratory hammer use. The pile materials used are precast concrete piles, steel tubes and sheet piles. Aarsleff Sp Zo.o. supply piling materials and installations for the project.
The piling work is ongoing and partly completed. Aarsleff is familiar to work with Junttan rigs also in other projects. Although the shore circumstances and technical requirements in this project are extremely challenging for both equipment and personnel, piling work has been advancing steadily and will be accomplished well in schedule. This has been enabled by Junttan’s reliable machinery, which use innovative solutions and are equipped for a multitude of work methods. An integral part of this project have been uncompromised work safety and Aarsleff’s competent personnel.