Sarens collaborated in the first bridge project after the end of the war in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. This bridge links the city with the airport and measures 1.5km in length. It consists out of 30 spans, all made out of 2 pre-constrained 1,000t concrete beams. The beams were made on site and then installed by Sarens. First the beams were skid transversally to place them onto Sarbogies. Next they were moved by the bogies and thus loaded onto a modular container barge (Sarens Modular Barge). The last step, after being jacked up by CS 250, was the installation of the beams onto their piles. All 60 elements with a weight between 979t and 1,026t will be installed this way.
Innovation Sarens Modular Barge (SMB)
During this project Sarens used its brand new Sarens Modular Barge (SMB) for the fi rst time. This modular barge consists out of 20' and 40' units which can be connected to adapt to the size of a channel or the width of a lock. The modular structure also allows for a cost-effective mobilization thanks to the certifi ed container sized dimensions of the modules, which makes them stackable just like containers. Sarens Modular Barge is in-house designed by Sarens' engineering team to be used for all kind of inland water operations. SMB makes it possible to perform barge operations in waters that are difficult to access by waterway, for example lakes or inland rivers. Furthermore Sarens Modular Barge possesses very high structural capacities compared to other alternatives.
Innovation Sarbogies
Another innovation used for the first time during this project is Sarbogies. Thanks to its high concentrated capacity and a nominal load of 600t, this is a new alternative for skidding.