Skip to main content

Sykes Pumps ballasting expertise adds weight to Forth float-outs

UK hire specialist, Sykes Pumps, is playing a vital role in delivering Scotland’s biggest transport infrastructure project in a generation - The Forth Replacement Crossing (FRC). Once completed later this year, the new road bridge will be the longest three-tower cable-stayed bridge in the world. Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors (FCBC) consortium is using 42,000 tonnes of steel. Getting all that steel out into the Firth of Forth is a delicate operation. The project involves transferring 7,000tonne se
June 17, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Sykes Pumps at work on Forth Replacement Crossing
UK hire specialist, 8165 Sykes Pumps, is playing a vital role in delivering Scotland’s biggest transport infrastructure project in a generation - The Forth Replacement Crossing (FRC).

Once completed later this year, the new road bridge will be the longest three-tower cable-stayed bridge in the world. Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors (FCBC) consortium is using 42,000 tonnes of steel.

Getting all that steel out into the Firth of Forth is a delicate operation. The project involves transferring 7,000tonne sections of prefabricated steel and concrete deck onto float-out barges using SPMT (self-propelled modular transport) vehicles.

For that reason, Sykes Pumps is playing a vital role in managing the ballast of the float-out operation being delivered by heavy lifting and engineered transport specialist, Sarens.

Sykes Pumps has provided Sarens with 50 of its general purpose GP 150M diesel pump.

The GP 150M, with the Sykes Univac vacuum system, is used wherever there's a need for positive self-priming. The pump primes and re-primes automatically from dry and is powered by a 20kW Lister engine with many optional configurations.

Sykes Pumps worked with Sarens to calculate the ballast requirements for the load-on and load-off manoeuvres. It also invested in additional fittings and butterfly valves for the pumps to provide dual suction and discharge, reducing the number of pumps and personnel required on site and optimising efficiency for the ballasting operation.

“We are using two load out vessels for the project, each with 25 pumps,” says Alister Smith, project manager at Sarens. “We have worked with Sykes Pumps several times before and knew that the company could ensure that water pumped into and out of the vessels’ tank compartments is calculated accurately.”

Sykes Pumps’ float-outs expert, Richard Box, said he could advise the client on dual suction and discharge pumping, enhancing the efficiency of the ballasting operation and ensuring the float-outs are completed safely in line with the construction programme.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Bridging the gap in African infrastructure
    December 20, 2013
    Leading formwork manufacturers have secured some impressive contracts in Africa, as the continent’s transport infrastructure continues to improve at a rapid pace. Meanwhile, other bridgework equipment companies are also seeing their products in demand in Africa, as well as North America and Australia.
  • Scotland’s Queensferry Crossing opens to traffic
    August 30, 2017
    The new Queensferry Crossing in Scotland is now open to traffic, with the first vehicles crossing at 2am this morning. The landmark design has set precedents in engineering, its three 207m high towers making it the tallest of its type in the UK and at 2.7km, also the longest three tower cable-stayed bridge built anywhere in the world. The bridge has a design life of 150 years and features two traffic lanes in either direction, as well as emergency lanes on either side. The new bridge will help reduce the ch
  • Scotland’s Queensferry Crossing opens to traffic
    August 30, 2017
    The new Queensferry Crossing in Scotland is now open to traffic, with the first vehicles crossing at 2am this morning. The landmark design has set precedents in engineering, its three 207m high towers making it the tallest of its type in the UK and at 2.7km, also the longest three tower cable-stayed bridge built anywhere in the world. The bridge has a design life of 150 years and features two traffic lanes in either direction, as well as emergency lanes on either side. The new bridge will help reduce the ch
  • Liebherr cranes on the Rader
    December 10, 2024
    Germany’s Rader High Bridge spanning the Kiel Canal along Germany’s A7 motorway is to be replaced and widened over the next few years. Eighteen Liebherr cranes are handling the lifting.