The Civil Engineering Contractor March 2019 | Page 18

WORLD NEWS
Global port handling equipment specialist Kalmar and Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara
International are building the world’s first fully digital autonomous zero emissions
terminal to handle the autonomous electric container vessel Yara Birkeland.
Norway’s port handling equipment specialist Kalmar and Norwegian
fertiliser giant Yara International are building the world’s first fully digital
autonomous zero emissions terminal to handle the autonomous electric
container vessel Yara Birkeland. Scheduled for completion in early 2020,
the terminal is at Yara’s Porsgrunn facility in Norway. Cargotec subsidiary
Kalmar will deliver fully autonomous loading and unloading equipment,
software, and services — including transportation between the fertiliser
production facilities and the quay — for this unique project.
Yara Birkeland will gradually move from being manned to becoming a
fully autonomous operation by 2022. It is the world’s first autonomous
and electric container vessel, as NauticExpo e-magazine reported. The
ship will slash emissions, improve road safety, and cut congestion by
removing up to 40 000 truck trips annually. It will transport fertiliser
from Porsgrunn via inland waterways to the ports of Larvik and Brevik.
Yara Birkeland will be built by Norwegian shipbuilder Vard under
a USD29.6-million contract signed last year. Like the ship, terminal
equipment will also be electric. Kalmar will provide an automated rail-
mounted gantry crane (AutoRMG), three FastCharge AutoStrad straddle
carriers, a FastCharge charging station, and related automation and
safety systems. The solution will be implemented in phases, with the
level of automation gradually increasing. The end result will be a fully
autonomous, mixed-traffic terminal.
Norway recently opened its ‘Arctic Mega Bridge’, the first Chinese enterprise
to build a long-span bridge in Europe. Contractor Sichuan Road & Bridge
Group (SRBG) celebrated the official opening of the Hålogaland Bridge in
the Arctic town of Narvick, Norway, in December. Nestled among snowy
mountains, its nearly 1.6km span traverses the 300m-deep Rombaksfjord
to connect Narvik with neighbouring towns and is said to be the longest
suspension bridge in the Arctic Circle.
The design, undertaken by Cowi, had to contend with the long span,
powerful Arctic winds, and thermal expansion-contraction in a region
where seasonal temperature swings reach 40 degrees. As contractor and
component supplier, SRBG had to contend with a tight construction
schedule dictated by Arctic weather, which allows a build period of
only six months a year. The project has been a success, and SRBG has
won the bid for its second bridge in Norway, the Batstadtsander Bridge.
16 | CEC March 2019
The UK’s Network Rail, which owns and manages
the UK’s rail network, has awarded contracts
worth GBP7-billion for renewal and upgrade
work to the system in the south of England. The
work, which will be carried out between 2019
and 2024, will be organised by J Murphy in the
Anglian region, BAM Nuttall in the Southeast, and
Geoffrey Osborne in Wessex.
Of the newly awarded contracts, up to
GBP460-million is expected to be spent on
the renewal of the Anglia route, GBP860-
million is set to be used on the Southeast
route, and GBP370-million will be invested in
Wessex. The multidisciplinary framework will
deliver projects including stations, buildings
and civils, electrifications, power, signalling,
telecommunications, and track work. With an
initial validity of five years, the contracts have
the option of three one-year extensions.
Saudi Arabia’s Water and Electricity
Company (WEC) has awarded a contract to
build the world’s largest desalination plant
to a joint venture between ACWA Power
International and a conglomerate called the
Saudi Brothers’ Commercial Company. The
ACWA bid was chosen from a shortlist of five
to build the plant at Rabigh, a town on the Red
Sea coast about 100km north of Jeddah.
When complete, the plant will use reverse
osmosis to yield a capacity of 600 000m 3 /
day. The plant may be expanded in the future
to double its output. Rabigh 3 will deliver
potable water at the lowest cost achieved to
date for reverse osmosis while consuming
the least amount of power for each m 3 of
water produced. WEC has agreed to buy
the water produced at Rabigh 3 for 53c/m 3 ,
which ACWA says is the lowest cost ever
achieved for reverse osmosis technology.
The water output will be piped to Mecca
and Jeddah, easing the strain on the kingdom’s
water infrastructure during Ramadan and
Hajj seasons. The plant is being delivered
under a 25-year build-own-operate contract
and is scheduled to begin operations by
the end of 2021. A consortium comprising
Marubeni Corporation of Japan, Acciona
Agua of Spain, and two Saudi companies, the
Abdul Latif Jameel and Rawafid Alhadarah
Holdings, was appointed as reserve bidder.
The value of the deal was not announced.
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