Sarens uses Crosby/SP load cell to weigh Christmas trees

Heavy lifting specialist Sarens is using a 100t capacity Radiolink plus load cell from Straightpoint (Crosby/SP), a Crosby Group brand, to complete delivery of seven 85t Christmas trees for a major oil and gas company. It also used Crosby/SP’s 1000m (3280ft) range SW-HHP handheld reading device.

The trees (an assembly of valves, spools and fittings) are being stored in Nacala-Porto, a city on the northern coast of Mozambique, from where they will be sold on by an oilfield services company.

Sarens, a provider of crane rental services, heavy lifting and engineered transport, is responsible for offloading the trees from a vessel, transporting them to the site, and offloading them prior to temporary storage. Sarens, which boasts an extensive crane fleet in the region, selected a 250t capacity Demag CC1100 crawler crane to complete lifting operations.

Julio Paco, lifting operations supervisor at Sarens, said: “Generally my role includes preparing the daily lift plan, supervising each lifting operation, leading talks with the personnel involved in each operation, and sending weekly and monthly reports to the office.” He explained that the company’s scope of work also includes testing and inspection to ensure that the trees are working properly before they are moved onto a jobsite.

The trees are identical and measure approx. 17.8ft (5438mm) by approx. 16.6ft (5,068mm). For each, Paco and his team utilised various items of rigging gear including chains, slings and shackles, which were sourced from Sarens’ local stock, where products range from low capacity up to 250t items.

Paco says, “We had to supply two crane operators and two banksmen to cover two shifts. As is always the case in this sector, speed and efficiency of service is paramount to delivery of our services. Knowing the weight of items as they follow their supply chain to the point of use is a necessary component of that work. With the Radiolink plus we can take readings at a safe distance using a [handheld] device.”

Crosby/SP also offers an extensive range of ATEX/IECEx products; it recently enhanced the ATEX Handheld plus with a number of standout additions: overload and calibration warnings are now displayed on an improved, larger screen. Also, it is now possible to read up to four SP load cells simultaneously, allowing the operator to monitor a multi pick-point lift from a single handheld system. This capability suits the product even further to the diverse applications that end users deliver at the coalface. Existing features remain including the product’s suitability to hazardous zones 0, 1 and 2, commonplace on oil rigs and in petrochemical plants.