Sarens Technical Solutions and Rentals Make Ukranian Bridge Installation Possible
Sarens completes Kiev bridge installation with project spanning both land and water
13
July 2021

From August through October of 2020, Sarens worked near the city centre of Kiev, Ukraine, to install the Podolski Bridge across both land and water. This technical solutions project was combined with the rental of two Sarens crawler cranes: the CC3800 and the LR1600. The work was completed on behalf of client Spetz Proekt-Invest, and the end client was the Ukranian government.

The technical solutions equipment for the landside project included a combination of stools, eight CS450 climbing towers, 38 SPMTs, and four skid shoes assembled as a gliding shoe. Corresponding equipment for the waterside project included a combination of stools, the new CS350 climbing system with four towers, CS250 climbing towers, 2x10 axles of SPMTs, and sub-contracted modular barges.

The equipment arrived via road transport from Sweden, Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, and it took approximately eight days for the trucks to reach Kiev. Equipment for the landside project required 26 trucks, and equipment for the waterside project required approximately 45 trucks. Meanwhile, the two rental cranes were forwarded via approximately 40 trucks each.

The landside project required Sarens to install the bridge by lancing over gliding shoes, meaning that for each of the 16 steps, bridge deflections needed to be controlled by supporting the bridge in different places. Meanwhile, the waterside project required the LR1600 and CC3800 to work in tandem loading out the 80-metre, 550-tonne sections. Another challenge for the waterside project was that the constructed bridge segments on the barge needed to sail as low as possible below an existing bridge, and then be lifted to a height of 19 metres for installation on the pylons.

During peak periods for both the landside and waterside projects, eleven people were on-site. Despite its complexity, the projects were completed successfully thanks to the careful planning and expertise of everyone involved.