Largest storage tank heads to Sasol Secunda
They placed the order at the beginning of September 2022.
The largest fully fabricated and erected storage tank made its way from Hydra-Arc/Sky-Hill along a 22km route into Sasol Secunda on May 4.
The 78-ton storage tank was transported through the west side of the Sasol plant. It measures 15.8m in diameter and 17.5m in height.
The three key players on the project were Sasol Secunda Tank Farm as the end-user, WOOD PLC as the contractor, and Hydra-Arc/Sky-Hill as the sub-contractors.
An initial request to submit a budgetary proposal was in May 2021.
“At the time of providing the original pricing proposal, we issued our commercial offer in line with the original scope calling for on-site fabrication and erection of the tank,” said Tyrone van Heerden, PMO manager and project manager for Sky-Hill.
He said they investigated the full fabrication and erection of the tank at their Sky-Hill fabrication facilities, and the transporting of the tank ‘undressed’ to the site.
This meant there would be no walkways and fire suppression deluge system to the tank, which would be installed on-site.
“Upon conclusion of our investigation with the contractor, we established the cost savings were proven and significant, the feasibility, risks associated and schedule benefits aligned to building the storage tank as one unit,” said Van Heerden.
Preliminary transport route surveys and the investigation of other similar projects showed that it was possible to transport the storage tank with the diameter of the tank being 13.75m, considering both the road limitations and plant congestion.
“As we did prove, the viability of fabricating and transporting the storage tank as a single unit, well below the original priced on-site build; this being a real project viability consideration, we received an RFQ in August 2022 requesting a commercial offering on the revised option of which was submitted middle August 2022,” said Van Heerden.
They placed the order at the beginning of September 2022.
The project scope included a full turnkey project including the management, design, procurement of materials and sub-contractors, fabrication, painting/galvanising, transporting, and rigging of the tank into position on site.
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“Once the tank is placed and rigged into position, we are to install the walkways and platforms and install the fire suppression deluge system. We were also required to complete the storage tank stand test and the tank gauging and strapping,” said Van Heerden.
“Transporting the tank was the biggest risk and the biggest deliverable, and proof had to be shown within 20 days that it could be done without any risks that were ‘show stoppers’. The design commenced in parallel with the alternative offer proposal.
“We met our deadline and decided to go ahead with this option by managing the risks and establishing the best engineering practices to deliver the project on time, on budget and ahead of schedule.
“The contractor knew our capabilities and if we said we could do it, we would do anything in our power to reach the contractor’s deliverable to the client.”
Van Heerden said an alternative route was identified during one of their risk mitigation and optimisation sessions, due to another large project being underway.
“We were required to go through an alternative access route west of the plant with less congestion, to consider transporting the entire tank including the walkways, platforms and deluge system fully installed, essentially removing any construction work being required within the primary area of Sasol Secunda, as previously planned,” said Van Heerden.
