PMV Middle East - August 2010

August 2010, Volume 4 Issue 8

Latest news (p04) Interview (p14) Simulator (p33) Jubail & Yanbu (p38)

CRANE SAFETY

UAE-based expert speaks about the importance of training

An ITP Business Publication Licensed by Dubai Media City

l e s e i it up d t u ean o b a o cl e r o wt m rn nd ho a e L a

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001 AUGUST 2010, ISSUE 8 VOL 4

10

12

14

18 02 COMMENT 04 NEWS Some of the latest news updates from across the equipment industry.

10 NEWS FEATURE A local expert shares his views on crane training and much more.

12 NEWS FEATURE Our fearless correspondent goes to learn more about trucks in Bagdhad.

14 INTERVIEW Mishal Kanoo speaks about his firm’s new venture.

18 SITE VISIT Strand jacks on an airport roof.

40 24 STOP SMOKING More about engines, diesel and the man that invented it all.

28 PRODUCTS Latest machines and gadgets to bring productivity home.

30 IN PICTURES The world this month.

33 SIMULATOR A facinating article about modern truck simulation.

38 CITY PROFILE Jubail and Yanbu fall under our gaze as the race to rebuild continues.

40 BACKTRACK Clean coal? Oh really?

002 COMMENT

SHARJAH’S SUMMER SURPRISES Registered at Dubai Media City PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAE Tel: 00 971 4 210 8000, Fax: 00 971 4 210 8080 Web: www.itp.com Offices in Dubai & London ITP Business Publishing CEO Walid Akawi Managing Director Neil Davies Managing Director ITP Business Karam Awad Deputy Managing Director Matthew Southwell Editorial Director David Ingham VP Sales Wayne Lowery EDITORIAL Senior Group Editor Stuart Matthews Editor Greg Whitaker Tel: +971 4 210 8150 email: greg.whitaker@itp.com Contributors Oscar Wendel SALES Advertitising Director Andrew Parkes Tel: +971 4 210 8570 email: andrew.parkes@itp.com Sales Manager Vipul Dilip Patel Tel: +971 4 210 8676 email: vipul.patel@itp.com STUDIO Group Art Editor Daniel Prescott Designer Angela Ravi PHOTOGRAPHY Director of Photography: Sevag Davidian Senior Photographers: Efraim Evidor, Jovana Obradovic Staff Photographers: Isidora Bojovic, George Dipin, Murrindie Frew, Lyubov Galushko, Shruti Jagdesh, Mosh Lafuente, Ruel Pableo, Rajesh Raghav PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION Group Production Manager Kyle Smith Deputy Production Manager Matthew Grant Production Coordinator Devaprakash V A Distribution Manager Karima Ashwell Distribution Executive Nada Al Alami Managing Picture Editor Patrick Littlejohn Image Editor Emmalyn Robles CIRCULATION Head of Circulation & Database Gaurav Gulati MARKETING Head of Marketing Daniel Fewtrell Marketing Manager Annie Chinoy ITP DIGITAL Director Peter Conmy Internet Applications Manager Mohammed Affan

Well, it seems I’ve district cooling plants and connect them into an spent the last couple existing network of buildings at the drop of a hat. of weeks writing so It would take months of planning, research and much about the emir- oodles of consultants to network the industrial ate down the road that sprawl that makes up most of the city. The amount I have been dubbed of cash it would take would be phenomenal, and the resident ‘Shar- there would be many chances for it to go astray. jah expert.’ This isn’t So are there any other options?

Well, luckily yes. Sharjah has an abundance of true – I’ve never lived there, and I can still natural gas, which can also be used to power AC guarantee getting lost units – something the powers that be are experand stuck in endless traffic within ten minutes of imenting with at the moment. It would be quite expensive to connect every building to the supcrossing the border.

Indeed, there has been no shortage of things to ply – but a fraction of the cost of loosing power. It write about in that beleaguered place just recent- would also surely give the construction industry ly. A string of fires, really big ones, followed by a an opportunity to take part in the modernisation number of horrendous industrial accidents, plus of the emirate.

Of course, all this is to dodge the real issue of hauls of a few of the fake goods coming into the metered supplies. Apparently, a high number of area make good copy.

However, it is the power cuts which are the places don’t have the supply monitored at all, so main cause of woe in the emirate, and the number there is no incentive to ever switch anything off. one culprit is a spike in energy used by the air-con- Until this is resolved, you should expect to be sitditioning. Using external AC units wastes loads of ting in the dark for a little while yet. energy, particularly when the temperature rises.

When compared with, say, a modern district cooling plant the amount of power needed to chill each cubic meter is enormous, and with the heat as stifling as it is, there seems no point in ever switching such a unit off. Until, of course, it is too late.

Now, anybody reading who is involved in build- Greg Whitaker, Editor ing services will know that you can’t just construct greg.whitaker@itp.com

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There has been turmoil in Sharjah through the summer, due in the main to lengthly power cuts. Find out more on P4.

Published by and Copyright © 2010 ITP Business Publishing,a division of ITP Publishing Group Ltd. Registered in the B.V.I. under Company Registration number 1402846.

PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

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004 REGIONAL NEWS

Sharjah blackout: Genset shortage chaos POWER As Sharjah enters the third full day with no power, businesses are starting to feel the pinch.

Keith Jones, general manager of Al Wasit Machinery explained that although the group rents gensets, the separate heavy equipment division is left sitting in the dark: “We’ve got one set running out the back here, but it isn’t completely compatible with the whole building.”

He added: “It’s absolutely ridiculous – we never know when the power is going to drop and for how long” A kilometre or two away, plant hire and pile cutting firm German Gulf Enterprises is also dealing with lack of power. Mr. Menon, a manager at the company explained: “It’s a very bad scene. We thought last year was bad but this year is worse”.

“You can’t get hold of SEWA, their phones are just not answered. The area in which I live, Al Shingara, the supermarkets are all refreezing their frozen food. Tomorrow, you will find all the people getting sick” Menon added: “I’m running the whole operation on four generators, two for the camp and two for [the

Most residents are fed up with the disruptions power cuts bring to their lives.

offices] That is the only alternative.”

“Right now, if you ask any generator supplier, right up to Jebel Ali, he will say that his generators are in Sharjah” Ironically, the firm actually is involved in generator hire, but has run out of stock. “Our sister company, one based opposite us deals exclusively in generators, but we don’t have anything free. They had one machine, but apart from that we had to take from outside.”

Elsewhere in the emirate, a construction worker has died and hospitals have been inundated with cases of heat exhaustion as power cuts continue to hit.

The construction worker died just minutes after being taken to hospital suffering heat exhaustion on Tuesday, while the number of people being treated in hospital for heat related illnesses soared to four times the normal level.

Forty cases were reported on Tuesday and another 45 had been logged by Wednesday afternoon, according to one hospital.

In other parts of the emirate, a pair of labourers were reported to have died after bringing a generator set into their accomodation.

The set was not, of course, designed for indoor use - and the pair were reported to have fallen victim to carbon monoxide poisoning.

SEWA were not responding to media requests, and therefore would not speculate on the nature of the outage. However, a spokesperson at Dubai-based Rental Solutions and Services suggested that there is more than one factor at play.

“Some of their power plants get hot because of over use, very similar to a car engine, which if it gets too hot will trigger a trip so it will buzz down. Sometimes companies like ours are called in to supply cold air to the power plants.”

“However, there can also be problems with the turbines and with the distribution network. There are many elements in play in Sharjah right now” he concluded

Rollers stop as Jubail intersection signed off MACHINERY The Royal Commission which overseas the running of the KSA industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu has finished the intersection of Bridge 1 to Bridge 4 connecting Jubail Industrial City in the middle of Aldawi district, which will serve as new residential areas in addition to the existing residential areas in Jalmuda district.

Mr. Ahmed Mutair Al-Balawi, General Manager of Technical Affairs of Royal Commission in Jubail, remarked that this bridge, which took three months of completion, would greatly contribute to ease the movement of heavy traffic and won’t PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

be so easily flooded, unlike the old road. He also pointed out that RC worked with the contractor to get the intersection built quickly. “The second bridge is the intersection of 4 with 6, which is currently put into operation and it will be opened shortly as soon as RC built bridges parallel accordingly to its general plan,” said Mr. Al-Balawi.

As well as the new bridges and intersection, Mr. Al-Balawi also pointed out that improvements in street lighting and road markings will make the area much safer for the heavy rigs that have to negotiate the road each day.

Heavy trucks can now better access the expanding industrial city.

www.constructionweekonline.com

005

REGIONAL NEWS

Sharjah cracks down on diesel sector DIESEL Sharjah Economic Development Department has taken action against ‘diesel dealers’, both suppliers of the fuel as well of stockists of accessories.

This follows from a meeting held in May, where it was revealed that in high summer demand for the heavy oil peaked, and there were disproportionately more fires and accidents Unsurprisingly, the focus will be on the emirate’s industrial areas and inspectors will be making sure that the fuel is bunkered correctly, and that the people hold the relevant licence.

City chiefs were also concerned that chemical products, tyres, sponges and oils are warehoused in a safe way.

www.constructionweekonline.com

Apart from keeping fuel stores safe, the department has been busy in recent weeks, as a number of fake products have come to light. Among the usual haul of mobile phones and handbags, inspectors discovered a large quantity of district cooling water pumps, illegally bearing the name Pedrollo – a popular Italian brand.

All of the fake items siezed are destroyed, but some raise concern over the fine - only AED 5000.

Fakes are destroyed and diesel stores are inspected for safety during the summer.

In his statement about the meeting, SEED MD Ali bin Salem Al Mahmoud said, “Enforcing the

applicable laws and regulations is the best way to secure safety for all who deal with diesel sector.”

2500 Number of fake water pumps destroyed in Sharjah

August 2010 \\ PMV Middle East

006 REGIONAL NEWS BUSINESS BRIEFS Cat goes up There is some good news this month for most of the world’s makers. Caterpillar has decreased the amount of profit it made in the second quarter this year, as compared with the same period last year. The firm blamed the 7% drop on a variety of market conditions, including revenue lost from reposed or returned equipment. The good news for the Peoria-based firm is that the share price has actually increased by 91% in the same period.

Volvo CE increase Another firm steering out of choppy waters is Volvo CE. The construction equipment conglomerate saw equipment sales leap 63% compared with the admittedly very low volumes in sales last year. Volvo CE credits the rise to increased demand from South American countries and Brazil in particular.

Telehandler rise Equipment maker Manitou has increased second quarter revenues by 36% to €225 million compared to the same period last year, with compact equipment sales (including Gehl in the US) doubling to €32.9 million and rough terrain handler sales up 24% to €157.7 million.

Terex better Sales at Terex’s AWP division, primarily Genie branded aerial platforms and telehandlers, increased by 11.7% to US$232.4 million compared to the second quarter of 2009.

High power deal UK-based JCB has appointed new distributors across Europe for its range of gensets. August Storm Gmbh & Co. KG (Storm) is now the distributor for Germany and in the UK, Tarplett Generator Services (TGS) has been appointed as a dealer.

PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

Skid steer inventer mourned by company COMMUNITY The Bobcat Company has paid tribute to Louis Keller, the co-inventor of the first skid-steer loader, as the company mourns his passing on 11 July at the age of 87. Together with his brother Cyril, Louis invented the first skid-steer loader, which was based around a three-wheeled loader they developed in 1957 for a turkey farmer near Rothsay in Minnesota.

Rich Goldsbury, President of Bobcat Americas and Oceania, issued a statement saying: “We were saddened to learn about the passing of Louis Keller, one of the inventors of the compact, threewheeled machine that led to the

first branded skid-steer loader.

Louis was among those honoured in 2004 as Bobcat received the ASAE ‘Historic Landmark’ award.”

The Keller Loader had two drive wheels and a rear caster wheel, and the brothers built half a dozen more in the first year. In September 1958, they were hired by the Melroe brothers at Melroe Manufacturing Company in Gwinner, North Dakota, which was later to become Bobcat Company.

Using the brothers’ design, Melroe introduced the M60 Self-Propelled Loader and, in 1960, Louis added a rear drive axle, resulting in the M400 model, the world’s first true skid-steer loader.

The inventor of the skid-steer loader had died at the age of 87.

Change at the top for Bobcat PEOPLE Korean-based conglomerate Doosan Infracore has appointed a new president for the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Scott Nelson succeeds Alberto Fornaro, who, in addition to his position as CFO of the group, has served since the beginning of the year as president of the EMEA region.

Apart from being a brand in its own right, Doosan is best known for the Bobcat compact equipment range, which it bought from Ingersoll Rand in 2007. The group also produces generator sets under the IR brand.

Announcing the appointment, Tony Helsham, CEO of the Korean firm noted: “Scott is uniquely qualified for this role, having presided over the successful establishment of the regional headquarters at Waterloo in Belgium and the opening of the compact equipment plant in Dobris in the Czech Republic. He has a strong relationship with the staff, the dealers, operations and the markets in the EMEA region.”

Qatar post-dated cheques remain legal LEGAL A revision to confused wording has ensured that people paying rent or for goods such as building materials in advance via post dated cheques can continue to do so.

Like most Gulf countries, cheques issued ahead of their encashment date have been the stock way of ensuring payment for future goods and services.

However, an amendment to this law demanded that cheques be payable ‘on sight’. Although this amendment was drafted back in 2006, it wasn’t

implemented until May this year.

After taking effect, the rule, known as ‘Article 580’ meant that banks could attempt to cash cheques no matter what the date on them was, with obvious consequences for those who had written them.

This in turn caused problems for landlords and others who were now unable to take any advance payment as no direct debit system operates in Qatar.

After objections from just about everybody, another amendment has been swiftly made, and is now in

effect. “The cheque shall be due and payable at sight and every statement that contradicts the same shall be deemed non-existent. If the cheque is submitted prior to the date shown as the date of issue, the bank shall not settle that cheque until the date shown. Where the bank cashes the cheque before that date, it shall be liable for damages arising from its actions.”

‘Bouncing’ a cheque, regardless of what law was in force when issued, remains illegal in Qatar and will most likely result in gaol time.

www.constructionweekonline.com

008 REGIONAL NEWS

Natural gas-powered AC experiments in Sharjah HVAC Natural gas connections have soared in Sharjah, as new figures for connections suggest a year-on-year increase of nearly a third, as the emirate tries new ways of using the abundant fuel. ‘’SEWA is exploring the possibility of using gas in other sectors like air-conditioning” said Eng. Tareq Demas, Director of Natural Gas at the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority . ‘’Gas connection points saw a substantial increase to 156,859 in 2009 from 133,227 in 2008. Supply of natural gas pumped by gas stations to various Sharjah areas

Gas powered AC systems may help with the regular power outages.

Multiple appliances deal with Sharjah fire FIRE Police believe they have found the cause of a massive fire which ripped through an apartment block in Sharjah during July.

Equipment from Sharjah and neighbouring emirate Dubai was put to the test as multiple appliances battled to bring the inferno under control.

The blaze, which destroyed a fourteen-storey mixed use block named Al Kuwait Tower had initially been blamed on a gas explosion, but the authorities now suspect the fire started from a more usual source. Brigadier Hamid Mohammed Huseilei suggested to the Arabic-language Emarat Alyoum newspaper was started by careless disposal of cigarette butts in apartment 405.

The chief believes that rubbish on the balcony smouldered, and then caught alight, before being fanned by the winds on to neighbouring balconies. Since the fire occurred last week in

PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

rose 32.3 million cubic metres by the end of 2009 from 26.7 million cubic metres,’’ he added.

He said that consumers of natural gas increased spectacularly by 24,700 to 155,163 in 2009 from 130,433. ‘’SEWA’s gas pumping stations have large reserve capacities to satisfy any expected demand for gas in the future,’’ he noted.

The increase is due in part to a wider availability of mains gas, and a shift away from older, canistertype PLG cookers in homes.

The authority can arrange the conversion of such cookers.

New fabrication facility in Dubai Industrial City PLANT A heavy manufacturing plant hauled open the shutters in DIC in July.

Designed to make pipes, supply lines and other parts of industrial infrastructure, the new facility is the latest venture from the Kanoo Group, a firm originally based in Bahrain, but now with interests in all of the GCC countries.

The operation will be known as Kanoo Engineering LLC, and will be run as an all-new company within the group.

The opening was attended by Abdullah Belhoul, MD of DIC and Mishal Kanoo, deputy chairman of the Kanoo Group as well as various other top brass from the company.

Speaking at the inauguration, Mishal Kanoo said: “With this specialist branch, we will be able to share our unique experience and understanding of steel works related to the construction industry for the benefit of businesses in the country and continues expansion of our customer base.”

Mutiple appliances put out this blaze.

the Al Buteena area, more than 150 people have been put up in temporary accommodation by the local authority and the UAE Red Crescent. Amazingly, no fatalities were recorded.

A new plant has opened for business in Dubai’s Industrial City.

www.constructionweekonline.com

010 NEWS FEATURE

Crane training gets boost in region Expert warns of crane dangers and the availability of quality training in region hile the crane scene in the UAE is quieter than previous years, it is perhaps time for reflection. There are still too many accidents, a fact that almost all parties agree on. What they don’t all agree on is the root cause of the accidents.

Enter Shata Mahdiyone. Having spent most of his life around cranes, and being qualified to operate all types and classes across Europe, his opinion is a respected one in the country – and to him it is very simple: “It comes down to training.

The machines are good – they are coming in good shape anyway. So much research and development goes in to building a crane and once companies like Leibherr, Demag, Manitowoc and alike put their names on a crane you can bet your bottom dollar it is a safe piece of equipment.”

Mahdiyone stresses.

Of course, not every company will necessarily have the best motivations for providing training for its staff. “Some do it because they want to improve safety; some do it because they just want the certificate” Mahdiyone explains.

“The problem is, if you don’t know about the standard of training that is required on a particular type of crane,then how can you judge if a training organisation has done a good job training people or not? Who is assessing these trainings or the organisations that deliver them? And what should the minimum standards of these trainings be? Who sets the bench mark for that? Accidents are still happening.”

W

OPERATORS Operator error through lack of training or supervision is, in Mahdiyone’s opinion the major cause of accidents in the region.

PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

TRAINING Different companies have varying motivations for safety standards, Mahdiyone says.

www.constructionweekonline.com

011

NEWS FEATURE

in the UAE to set up the Crane Safety Forum. “The information that we give out is completely free, and available for anyone to use” Mahdiyone says. One of the aims of the forum is to look at previous accidents and analyse what went wrong. The information can be gained either by simply calling one of the members, or looking up the forum on the Internet or by reading the new regular column on constructionweekonline.com TESTING Overload testing is a hotly

OVERLOAD TESTING

debated industry issue right now.

“You can go to any insurance company, and they’ll have photos on their wall of crane accidents and 99% of them will be operator error” he explains. “Insurance companies are using crane accidents photos as scare tactics to get high premiums “They never actually suggest better training and maintance to their clients. Why should they, this makes them money. The Crane Safety Forum tried on a number of times and levels to contact the insurance companies to address these issues but we never heard back from them.”

Mahdiyone expanded that on a photo wall that he had seen recently, in the tiny fraction of pictures that wasn’t directly attributable to

operator really still were, due to a lack of routine checks or maintenance on the equipment. “[One operator] was operating with a damaged main boom on a telescopic crane, he’s got that fully out to maximum length, trying to do a maximum lift, so it just bent and snapped.”

“You could see the metal was bent before as the paint was gone and the rust had come through, but it was probably like that for ages. As we investigated the operator had never reported it or mentioned it to anyone, he just carried on operating a defective crane.”

It was this lack of knowledge that lead Shata Mahdiyone and Paul King with a group of crane experts, Manufacturers and fleet owners

Of course, testing and maintenance on cranes of all types is also a critical part of keeping them safe, but even this is fraught with difficulties as the majority of crane manufacturers absolutely will not state in printed literature if their equipment can be overload tested or how much by. The trouble is, many

construction managers demand that the machines are overload tested, usually in the belief that the local laws require it. Mahdiyone explains: “When I recently spoke on a panel at a cranes conference with several crane manufacturers, one of the questions was whether they believed their equipment should be overload tested or not.” The question apparently filled the whole session, with disagreements about if the equipment should be overload tested at all, and if so how much by, but also the role of modern ‘black boxes’ and the risk of invalidating warrantees by testing. Mahdiyone asks “ Why don’t the manufacturers clearly state the load testing procedures for their cranes in the crane manuals so there are no grey areas and the machines can be tested according to manufacturer’s instructions, correctly and safely.”

SAFETY DOCUMENTS ONLINE Besides speaking about safety, Mahdiyone has prepared a series of documents on the subject, and you will be able to read them in full over the coming months on constructionweekonline.com/analysis The first in the series deals with cranes and lifting operation as well as the role of the appointed person.

Also, for more free advice you can access the Crane Safety Forum database by going to googlegroups.com and searching for ‘cranesafetyforum’.

World’s Highest Standard of Training and Assessment Now in UAE All Categories of Cranes & Plants Appointed Person & Lift Supervisor by C.I.T.B Instructors Competitive prices

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August 2010 \\ PMV Middle East

012 NEWS FEATURE

We’ve ventured back to Iraq to speak to the manager of a truck assembly plant GUSTAF SUNDELL, IRAQ COUNTRY MANAGER FOR SCANIA TRUCKS Sundell has been actively working towards establishing truck assembly in Iraq in partnership with the government company for automotive industry for the last two and a half years. We interviewed him about overcoming the challenges involved olved in becoming the first manufacturer facturer to restart assembling vehicles hicles in Iraq.

When did you make it to Iraq the first time?

My first trip rip to Baghdad should ld have been in July last st year but didn’t happen appen until November. mber.

A MOU had been written and signed gned at that point I was ready to take over. I should have arrived in Iraq at a much ch earlier time but there re were practical difficulties ifficulties with arranging g a trip.

Lars Andersson on (Dealer network manager) ager) was the man who o laid the ground work k for this operation back k in 2007.

When he visited ed Iraq for the first time back ack in 2008 the US military y escorted him and landed ded him at the factory y with a helicopter where here the

PMV Middle East \\\ Augu August ust 22010 us 0010 100

area was secured by tanks and snipers lying on the roof. He became my mentor and advisor and the person who enabled me to take this role as Scania’s main representative in the Iraq market.

From when you first started looking at Iraq, how have your aims, goals g and plans changed c along the t way?

The rea reality is that working in i Iraq has required an ongoing degree of deg flexibility and flex therefore the the market plan is m under constant un rrevision. It is impossible im tto peg down the Iraq th which shifts wh from quarter to quarter. It was quar difficult to make difficu predictions and predic forecasts to base foreca your sstrategies on. will continue This w to be tthe case and although the market more in place plan is m we still cclosely follow adapt to the shifts and adap Iraq market. in the Ira It is not possible to write a business plan and follow it in

Truck building from CKD kits is a fledgling industry in Iraq.

50 Locally built trucks sold in Q1 of 2010

Iraq. In practice, realities keep changing too much. Despite this we are coming nearer to being able to put down clear strategies for how assembly and service rollout will develop in the future.

How do you view the future potential of doing business in Iraq?

I see it as bright and positive. There is clear progress being made and the main factor is the security situation continuing to improve.

This is a nation that is incredibly wealthy, not just in terms of oil but also in human capital. It’s a people are motivated and take pride in education.

Despite all the tragedies that the country has seen and continue to experience, seeing the drive and enthusiasm of the people to bring the country forward is an enormous reward.

How do you handle the complex security

situation where you must plan at least two days in advance to travel somewhere?

In a way it is positive because it forces you to plan and structure everything more precisely. Since there is nothing you can do about it you just have to accept the situation. The important thing is that you don’t let it get to you.

Expect complications and be pleasantly surprised when travel plans go according to plan.

To what extent have the security questions been an issue in the corporate decisions to enter Iraq market, seeing the considerable costs and complications involved?

[The company] is naturally aware of what is involved and have calculated this in the costbenefit analysis. The fundamental question determining the business case is first if we believe this market offers long term profitability and secondly the responsibility we have to existing Scania truck owners in Iraq to have service centers they can go to. There is a value to the Scania brand which we have built up that we want to uphold.

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014 INTERVIEW

STEELY RESOLVE Mishal Kanoo speaks about his firm’s latest engineering venture, as well as it’s plant buying strategy

T

here is nothing like the buzz of mig welders, accompanied by the sound and sparks of angle grinders, set off by the din of clanking great hammers.

It’s true that this cacophony is something of an acquired taste, but to us it signifies that an industry is getting back on it’s feet – and doing exactly what you’d expect a plant yard to.

Of course, all too many plant yards are silent in the summer heat, but one place where this is not the case is a new yard belonging to the Kanoo group. Unlike the group’s other ventures, the new engineering division is devoted solely to metal fabrication. However, deputy chairman Mishal Kanoo is keen to point out that while opening up to the current oil and gas market is a good plan, the company hasn’t turned it’s back on construction.

“It is still construction. There are different types, whether it is infrastructure, warehouse construction, oil and gas. All of these require steel fabrication. So we haven’t exactly moved out from our area of experience or expertise. What we have done is added a new dimension into it” he explained.

FABRICATION While it is certainly the case that the plant can fabricate steel for just about anything, it is also obvious that the main clients are going to be paying with the proceeds of ‘black gold’. At the time of our visit, which was the official opening day, workers were busy using a special welding process to make some pipeline, while elsewhere in the workshop another team were busy chopping metal and bolting together more precision steels for something else that could only belong on a drilling rig.

FAVOURITE DESTINATION As Kanoo Group also operate a travel agency, we wondered what Mishal Kanoo’s favourite destination would be. He replied: “My favourite destination? When it is a little bit cooler, that would be my hammock. Relaxing at home here, with my cigar and my iPad, that will be just perfect.”

PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

There is clever equipment here as well. Besides the usual tools, the plant boasts brandnew plasma welding equipment, as well as the latest in cutting technology such as the OmniPro waterjet. There is a variety of other high-ticket items, such as Kingsland fixed saws and other fancy gear. Mishal Kanoo was clear that each machine had been bough for a specific job – the firm had not just piled in equipment because it could get a discount during the ressession.

“We’d like to think of ourselves as ‘just in time’” he explained.

“Just because I find something 50% of it’s original price doesn’t mean I should buy it as I’ll also be locking away 50% of the value. With things being as tight as they are, we are careful with the equipment we buy.” He added that if a machine is utilised and makes money, then it will, of course, be bought.

REMOTE Situated in the very furthest end of Dubai Industrial City, near the Abu Dhabi border it is harder to imagine a more remote location. Although the word ‘city’ is included in the development’s name, in fact open desert surrounds the plant and the dusty www.constructionweekonline.com

015

CITY INTERVIEW PROFILE

“All types of construction require steel fabrication” – Mishal Kanoo

www.constructionweekonline.com

August 2010 \\ PMV Middle East

016 INTERVIEW

access road makes it anything but. However, there is strategic value in such a barren place, as Mishal Kanoo assures us: “It is very close to Emirates Road, and though DIC is at a nascent stage of its growth right now, most people are of the belief that you are in the ‘booleylands’ out here. We’ll see in a few years if it really is.”

There is more than one nonfreezone industrial estate in Dubai of course. Kanoo points out: “There are three major areas, Al Quoz is one, Al Awir is another and this will become the third. Jebel Ali is another, but

DEMAND Kanoo believes that

TURN ON A worker switches on

there is a demand for fabrication.

some brand-new equipment.

“DIC is at a nascent stage of its growth right now” –Mishal Kanoo

JETS Some of the latest kit is here, including water jets.

PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

unless you are a freezone company there is an issue with that one.” He also pointed out that Al Awir is mostly full of business patching up old trucks, and so he was keen to try somewhere entirely new.

We wondered, given the group’s large presence in Saudi Arabia why it had chosen to manufacture in Dubai – particularly considering the amount of oil and gas infrastructure in that country. Kanoo replied simply: “Our plan is to fabricate here and ship it out. We have [done fabrication in Saudi] in the past, but now the target is to consolidate all the fabrication here.” Neither does he seem particularly concerned about the competition in what is a fairly crowded sector. With contracts for industrial projects seeming to come up far more often at the moment, and be more lucrative than real estate, there will be established player, as well as those looking to take a slice of the action. However, if Mishal Kanoo is concerned about the opposition he doesn’t show it “We’ll see in a few months if these competitors really exist!” He added: “With the credit crunch the way it is, courtesy of how the banks are handling the liquidity, which is not very good, we will see how many of these companies can survive.”

www.constructionweekonline.com

Essential insights into the Middle East’s plant, machinery and vehicle markets.

018 SITE VISIT

AIRPORT ROOF LIFT We pay a flying visit to the new terminal building in Abu Dhabi

JACKING A worker inspects one of the strand jacks before the lift commences.

PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

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019

SITE VISIT

“Building a structure on the ground is much faster than building in situ” – David Gratteau

But, two hours after the lift was supposed to begin, the ducting still isn’t ready. Still, this gave us the chance to find out a bit more about the project, as well as the lift itself.

The VIP terminal is part of the ‘Presidential Flight’ unit of Abu Dhabi airport. Developed

by Aldar on behalf of the government, the project has Merco and Six Construction working in a joint venture as the lead contracting team.

CLEAR More workers clear the site ahead of the lift.

STRANDS

WAITING The shaddows get longer, as the lift is posponed.

T

here was a time when the great iron and steel spans of buildings such as railway terminals and exhibition centres had to be winched up piece by piece and bolted in place by men with no fear of heights – or of their own safety.

These days modern machinery and know-how make the job a lot easier, or at least that is the theory. On a hot and windy afternoon, we are on a site near Abu Dhabi airport, where the new VIP terminal is being built. The main room in this complex is a large, rambling area, complemented by a domed tower in one corner. The entire roof structure though, has been built in situ, but on the floor. The plan for today is to raise this vast strucwww.constructionweekonline.com

ture from the ground and into position by using a sequence of massive jacks.

However, there is a saying about the best laid plans. On arrival, workers are still scurrying about, seemingly fitting air conditioning ducts to the structure, which currently is sitting on temporary I-beam piers, about a metre off the deck.

This seems to be a sensible plan – after all, why would they attempt to do this when the beams are several storeys high?

In fact, this should have been done some time ago. Posters have been advising of the time of the roof lift for ages, and in any case, the project has a tight schedule – the whole basic structure is supposed to be completed just three weeks after our visit.

However, due to the large amount of steel, and the frame that needed lifting, Swiss-based heavy lift firm VSL have taken part in meetings since the project’s original conception.

At somewhere below 400 tonnes, the steel section is quite heavy – you certainly wouldn’t want it dropping on your foot for example – but there have been heavier lifts, which begs the question, why not use a pair of large cranes instead of strand jacking? David Gratteau from VSL explained “The time schedule is quite short and assembling on the ground is much faster than building in situ. The quality is higher too – you won’t need to correct all of the time.”

In fact, the original weight was to have been about 15% heavier, but value engineers got the weight down, which makes little difference from a jacking point of view, but makes a big deal of difference to the ground loading.

LASER Foreman Saeed Barsha attaches mirrors so that the lasers can pinpoint height and level.

August 2010 \\ PMV Middle East

020 SITE VISIT

The jacking procedure sounds complex, but it is actually relatively straightforward. Eight large hydraulic jacks stand on temporary gantries with the large metal I-beams braced underneath in a triangle shape. The jacks then pull the large, pre-tensioned ‘strands’, or cables up, which are attached to the frame with big cramps. Of course, it isn’t quite that simple. The jacks have to be synchronised exactly, or the whole structure is likely to be pulled up at an angle, and corrections have to be made for variances in temperature (as the steel will contract) as well as wind speed and so on. There are various ways of measuring the height

PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

of the steels, but this site uses half a dozen Sick lasers, which are in turn all rigged to a computer housed in a mobile office in a nearby shipping container.

Looking after the computer is a man named Saddan Bin Mohammed Said, who had previously been working on VSLs projects in Singapore. He explained: “The lasers are useful for heights up to 300 meters, we went over 200 [on a project] in Singapore”

ROOF Today’s lift will be just over 16 meters, so they should cope well.

Other parts of the system include a computer, which displays a window that looks similar to a graph-

“The lasers are useful for heights up to 300 meters” – Saddan Bin Mohammed Said

ic equaliser on a stereo – in that a line of levels shoot up or down whenever a part of the structure isn’t at the correct height. “This is the ‘Brow’ system.” Saddan clarified. “It is telling me the height. This gauge tells me what percentage of the load is being lifted and what capacity is available.” These levels can be con-

trolled or corrected with a pair of purpose-made instruments that feature a bewildering array of buttons, lights and keys. “These are limit switches. As soon as a tolerance is reached, they light up and you press them to lock the lift” explained Saddan, as he demonstrated by pressing one of the flashing buttons, and www.constructionweekonline.com

021

SITE VISIT

“With just one button the whole configuration will open” – Saddan Bin Mohammed Said

MIXER Like most sites, mixer

JACK One of the jacks waits pa-

trucks like this Actros still make

tiently for the lift to commence.

regular appearances.

HIGHBROW The ‘brow’ system of stop switches is connected to a laptop running special software.

www.constructionweekonline.com

indicating the corresponding ‘bar’ on the computer. “You can link these to any amount of control desks and with just one button the whole configuration will open” he concludes.

However, although the systems are on, and the levels suddenly show readings when a worker presumably bangs into the roof frame, there is no real use for it yet, as although it is over an hour after the lift is supposed to start, and there is still no word as to when operations might begin.

It is a frustrating time, as the lift is best done in the afternoon, while being completed before it gets dark. Grattaux explains; “It is possible to lift in the dark, but it is much better done during the hours of daylight in case you miss something.”

The time ticks on, allowing us a chance to talk to some of the riggers who are also waiting There is also a chance to check out some of the machinery on site. There’s a big JCB 540 Loadall telehandler hanging about, as well as a bunch of rented cranes – all Tadano roughterrain 20-tonne units as far as we could see. There are also the usual suspects – a large generator set of unknown make and rating idles away alongside the hydraulic compressor for the jacks. Elsewhere, several small Belle cement mixers wait patiently for their next batch.

SCAFFOLD Clambering back up to the scaffold to the roof, we find the VSL employees adjusting the equipment and waiting for the nod.

STRAND JACKING This lifting technique was invented in Europe in the 1970s based on principles learnt from post tensioning concrete.

Today they are used all over the world where precise lifting is required. The heavy items are lifted into position with computer-controlled hydraulic jacks. Because the multiple jacks can be moved in unison and with great precision, heavy structures can be assembled at ground level (with increased safety and reduced cost) and then lifted into position, rather than having to be built in the air. Traditional cranes and other lifting methods cannot provide this level of precision.In recent years, computer control has added to the versatility and safety of strand jack technology. In theory, any number of strand jacks can be used simultaneously to achieve unlimited lifting capacity, with computer-controls to keep the motion of all jacks synchronized. In practice, the maximum number of jacks that can currently be used simultaneously and kept under existing computer control systems is 80.

August 2010 \\ PMV Middle East

022 SITE VISIT inching higher and higher. The sun is starting to set, but it looks like the structure might just be in place by nightfall.

DASHED These hopes are dashed though.

At precisely 6.30 the workers who had been looking on in awe at the lift shuffled off to find their bus, as did just about everybody else who were needed to supervise the process, leaving a fairly angry team from the heavy lift company, as well as site manager Hossam Ibr Hamed making a furious round of phone calls, but there is little he can do. Without the staff to supervise the mighty section just has to be locked in place where it is, ready to be lifted another day.

TOWER A crane is used to carry a man basket around the site.

Note: The lift was successfully completed at the start of the following day’s shift and work on the project continues.

“The jacks have a long service life – over 20 years” – David Gratteau

“The jacks have a very long service life, over twenty years, as they are sent back to Switzerland regularly for complete overhaul” Gratteau explained. Six O’clock comes and goes, and the shadows are getting longer, but at five past, just as we thought it was going to be too late to do it today the call goes out to start the jacks. There is a flurry of activity, as men rush hither and thither trying to get the ground clear of boxes, clamps and other building detritus. Site foreman Saeed Barsha barks commands at his charge while they clear out, and after a couple of minutes he is left standing next to of the I-beams

PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

on to which the frame sits. The compressor’s engine note raises, as the flow to the pumps is turned on, and sure enough the entire structure raises by an inch and Saeed moves the I beams away. The whole structure is now entirely supported by the jacks.

People now screw reflectors for the lasers into the bottom of the lowest point of the structure, and with another surge of power from the compressor, the structure slowly lifts up.

Standing with us at the base of the unit are most of the workers who have just been shoed out of the main work site, most of whom seem excited by the lift, which is

DOME A dome covers the entrance lobby of the project, though this has been built conventionally.

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024 TECHNOLOGY

E

ngines have been much in the news recently, as a number of deaths have been attributed to smoky old generators pressed into service during the Sharjah power cuts. This brings to the fore the ongoing debate around the world about engines, and inparticular the need for diesel engine makers to clean up their act.

For an engineer, however the diesel motor is something of a paradox – on one hand it follows the same principals as the man from whom it takes its name. On the other, ever more demanding emissions rules from legislators, and efficiency needs form users mean that the blueprints grow more technical each year.

However, engine companies have been up against their toughest challenge to date, as a new standard referred to as ‘Tier IV/ Stage 3b’ comes in to force. This standard means that the amount of unburnt hydrocarbons, more commonly known as soot, must be brought down to the sort of level that is going to make the exhaust almost cleaner going out, than the air being drawn in.

Ironically, as we will see some of Rudolf Diesel’s original design elements are being reintroduced as the drive for more pressure, more power – and literally more ‘bang for your buck’ continues.

STILL SMOKING ON

Production of a number of very complex engines as well as additives

95% Maximum reduction of NOx possible by urea injection

PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

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025

TECHNOLOGY CITY PROFILE

DIESEL Modern diesel fuel will burn relatively cleanly in the right engines. The problem is that most of the diesel available in the region is far from modern. Old refining methods mean that local juice is likely to have a much higher sulphur content as well as containing a mix of toxic heavy metals, notably palladium, but also a variety of other nasties.

SELECTIVE ‘Selective catalytic reduction’ or SCR is a very technical way of getting a catalytic converter to work effectively. To put what is a complex process into layman’s terms, a regular catalytic converter, such as what you might find on a car, works by introducing a ‘catalyst’, usually platinum, to a chemical reaction, which renders the end product (in this case the exhaust gas) relatively harmless. SCR differs by using a liquid ‘reducing agent’ actually a fluid which is sprayed onto the catalyst. At one time the chemical used was ammonia, to kill the nitrous oxide (NOx) by converting the output of industrial boilers into harmless diatomic nitrogen or water.

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LUMP SCR is one of a number of technologies being introduced.

These days, a number of manufacturers have adapted this technology for use in roadgoing diesel engines, but by using an injection of a chemical based on the substance found in animal urine known as urea, the NOx is knocked down by up to 95% with no other toxic by products. There are a variety of different systems on the market at the moment, though as using urea injection is not mandated in the Middle East, few users take advantage. One notable excep-

RUDOLF DIESEL – A LIFE UNDER PRESSURE Way back in 1903, the company boss of MAN trucks, one Heinrich von Buz, became interested in the plans for an invention known as the ‘rational heat engine’ being developed by inventor Rudolph Diesel.

There was a problem though – the engine simply wouldn’t run as the necessary pressure could not be achieved. Diesel wanted to compress – and thus heat – air in a cylinder with such great pressure that only a tiny amount of fuel would be needed to generate an explosion and drive the cylinder piston. But the pressure Diesel hoped to attain – over 150 atm– originally even much more – wasn’t possible, as it was based entirely on theory by the university scientist Carnot.

This didn’t deter Diesel from trying other methods to raise the pressure. Sources say he worked tirelessly, on occasion blowing things up but always coming back for more.

It took years, but as he wrote: “the desire to realise the Carnot process dominated my existence”. Eventually, he had to admit to himself that the science was junk, and the engine was never going to run. It was at this time that he set about re-writing the rule book, and developed the forebear of the engine that now bears his name.

The tale doesn’t have a happy end though – he had taken his designs to the UK, but on the ship back one night in 1913, he disappeared. Most credible historians suggest he was probably dispatched by German agents, as his designs were politically sensitive ahead of WW1.

August 2010 \\ PMV Middle East

026 TECHNOLOGY

tion is the RTA in Dubai, who is using the stuff across its fleet in such ‘catalyst’, usually platinum, to a chemical reaction, which renders the end product (in this case the exhaust gas) relatively harmless. SCR differs by using a liquid ‘reducing agent’ actually a fluid which is sprayed onto the catalyst.

At one time the chemical used was ammonia, to kill the nitrous oxide (NOx) by converting the output of industrial boilers into harmless diatomic nitrogen or water.

These quantities that it has been worthwhile for one manufacturer of AdBlue, as urea is more politely known in branding circles, to establish a small factory in the emirate.

Elsewhere in the world, notably in Europe this technology has been wholeheartedly embraced with all on-road

SCIENCE Truck makers are experimenting with a number of ideas.

truck makers with the notable exception of Scania, embracing the technology.

FORCED AIR One of the defining principles of Diesel’s original design was that compressed air was supplied with the fuel, enabling combustion at an atomic level so every particle is entirely burnt.

Improvements in injector technology have rendered this concept obsolete for about 100 years, but now the idea is coming back into vogue, as engine designers try to make every last drop burn completely.

PLANT DERV

EFFICIENCY Engineers need to improve every drivetrain part.

PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

Contrary to popular belief, running a vehicle on so-called biofuels is not automatically any cleaner, nor in many cases will manufacturers honour the warrantees of users who have tried it. Properly refined though,

$120m Amount the US has earmarked for ‘clean diesel technology’ grants

there is no reason why it can’t be done.

Indeed, Rudolf Diesel himself tried refining peanut oil when no refined fuel was available with excellent results. Environmental politics aside, the main problems with it come down to gumming and glazing.

‘Gumming’ refers to sticky deposits that build up in the fuel line, which can block injectors, particularly in modern ultrahigh pressure injection systems, while ‘glazing’ refers to the varnish-like build up that can be left by such fuels.

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028 PRODUCTS

LATEST PRODUCTS

The latest gadgets and machines to help you with the job in hand

BREAKING UP NOT HARD TO DO A new breaker has been launched by Canadian firm Montabert. The V4500 model, is the largest in the company’s range of automatic twospeed breakers. The V4500 hydraulic breaker can be mounted on excavators from 45 to 80 tonne. It is designed for high productivity work on homogeneous rock surfaces, including civil engineering applications and secondary breaking in quarries and mines. www.montabert.com

DEWALT DRILL An all-new cordless drill has been brought out by tool maker DeWalt. The XRP Lithium Ion drill features a battery designed with NanoPhosphate Lithium Ion cells that the maker says will provide increased battery durability and cycle life, offering 2,000 recharges. The battery is compatible with the existing system of 18v power tools produced since by the firm 1996.

The ‘backwards compatibility’ of the Lithium Ion battery enables users to use any 18V battery with any tool from this brand. www.dewalt.com

PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

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029

PRODUCTS

CUT OF YOUR JIB A new range of hydraulic hoist and extension jib attachments has been for the Bobcat telehandler range. There are two types of attachment available – hydraulic hoists rated to 3.5 or 4.0 tonne and 600 and 1000 kg hydraulic hoists, each combined with a 4 m jib, all meeting the latest ISO 430 1 – 1 classification T4, L2, M4. www.bobcat.com

CAT TELEHANDLER The latest Cat telehandler, known as the TH514has a load capacity of 4990 kg, forward reach of 9.2m and with stabilizers in the down position, the machine provides lift height of 13.7m The makers say that the machine is ideal for general construction and industrial markets, as well as specialty markets including power plants and wind farm applications. www.zahidcat.com

JCB 3CX ‘ECODIG’ The latest incarnation of the evergreen backhoe loader, the new model range dubbed ‘Ecodig’ look a bit different, due to a frame restyle as well as a raised bonnet line, apparently so the unit can house a variety of powerplants as emissions rules change.

The changes are more than cosmetic though – a third hydraulic pump and some adjustments to the ECU mean that the digger can operate perfectly at almost half the RPM of the old model, saving money both in engine wear and fuel. www.jcb.com

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August 2010 \\ PMV Middle East

030 IN PICTURES

MACHINE MONTH A round up of goings-on in the heavy equipment world

GETTY IMAGES

PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

GETTY IMAGES

Italian PM pilots digger Europe’s clown prince of the political spectrum takes the controls of a Terex RHseries mining shovel while on a tour of the Panama Canal expansion. The Canal is being widened to accommodate the largest modern ships, and therefore needs some extra big kit to clear it out. However, if the site manager orders any more RH models they will come in a bright purple livery, as the factory has just been taken over from Terex

by Bucyrus.

Digging on deadline An Indian-spec 3CX carries the customary busload of people past the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium Complex in New Delhi at the end of June. Commonwealth Games chiefs remained surprisingly upbeat as New Delhi missed yet another deadline to deliver venues and civic facilities. Three major venues – the main Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, the swimming complex and the Games Village – were not handed over to the organising committee by the thrice-extended June 30 deadline. The cycling velodrome, another project that was behind schedule, made the cut in the nick of time and was inaugurated by sports minister Manohar Singh Gill.

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031

GETTY IMAGES

H

IN PICTURES

Louvre pit This hole will at some stage become the Islamic Art wing of the Louvre Gallery in Paris. Meanwhile, a Liebherr 614 bulldozer pushes dirt into a pile where the clamshell bucket on the 906 excavator can lift it out in what must be a very long process. There is a Case micro excavator and a Bobcat skid steer at the far end of the site, though what role such compact machines have here is unclear.

GETTY IMAGES

GETTY IMAGES

Rainforest clearance What we think is a Komatsu PC200 excavator is engaged in the dubious pursuit of clearing rainforest in the Indonesian rain forest in July. Mass deforestation and corrupt industrial practices make this area the third largest producer of greenhouse gasses on earth. Ironically, much of this land is being cleared to grow palm oil – a so-called ‘environmentally friendly’ biofuel.

New crane puts up old crane An ancient, fifteenth century harbour is being rebuilt in the Polish port of Gda sk. When finished the building will host a number of activities including a museum and a ‘cultural centre’.

In July a Linden Comansa LC5211 lifted the restored harbour crane back into it’s rightful place at the water’s edge.

GETTY IMAGES

GETTY IMAGES

Just rotavatin’ Chinese residents evacuate their flooded homes on a farm vehicle in Fuzhou, central China’s Jiangxi province in late June. These chaps appear not to mind too much, as they are keeping their feet dry by riding a cart being pulled by a field rotavator. Such contraptions are common in rural China.

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Wolf in the thick A spa hotel en the picturesque town of Füssen on the German border with Austria receives an extension. Accordingly, the Wolff tower crane has to be put up very carefully and the operator needs to watch his jib when slewing loads around the beautiful, but fragile surrounding buildings.

August 2010 \\ PMV Middle East

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033

TECHNOLOGY SITE VISIT

DRIVING Only the editor could manage to crash a truck on a totally empty road.

TRUCK SIMULATION S We check out the latest truck simulator at a Dubai driving school o I’m driving a truck, a large M.A.N 18-wheeler articulated rig with a haul of rocks from a quarry in Fujeriah. The load is heavy, very heavy, and as I try winding the truck down a winding mountain road, the trailer starts behaving like a pendulum and the tractor becomes unsettled.

The steering starts jerking, and I’m all too aware off a huge vertical drop on my right hand side.

The downhill gradient suddenly increases to 12%. The footbrake www.constructionweekonline.com

struggles to slow the machine’s huge inertia, and they quickly overheat. I urgently grab the airbrake and feather it to bring the speed of the vehicle under control. It works, but my moment of panic had cased me to take my eyes off the road and the truck goes flying off the crest of a hairpin bend wile everything in my vision goes black…

Luckily I’m still here to tell the tale as even the most relaxed and well-insured quarry operator isn’t mad enough to let me drive a heavy rock

truck over a mountain pass, or indeed anywhere. In fact, I’m at the Emirates Driving Institute school of motoring where I have just tested out a truck simulator – the latest tool in EDI’s

efforts to modernise training in the country.

SIMULATOR

The simulator has been installed for a month or two now, but it is

“My moment of panic caused me to take my eyes off the road and the truck goes flying of the road”

August 2010 \\ PMV Middle East

034 TECHNOLOGY ROAD The road training vehicles bask in the midday sun. It is very hot to perform road training.

still going through a commissioning stage where the trainers themselves are getting used to it. The simulator comprises of a dashboard from a real truck, complete with airbrake and ignition key. The ‘gear leaver’ is a little different though, appearing to be more like the sequential semi-electric transmission lever found in modern sports cars, and as such takes more than a little getting used to. The driving experience however is very realistic, with positive feedback, or a robotic simulation of, back through the steering wheel.

Like other simulators that we have tested, the report it prepares immediately on finishing the drive can only be 100% impartial. There can be no ‘looking the other way’ on the part of the computer – a fact that hasn’t

PMV Middle East \\ August 2010

“Because it can simulate an articulated vehicle, it can address stability issues” – Peter Richardson

gone unnoticed by the managers at the driving school as Peter Richardson, the technical and operations manager explains: “Because it can simulate an articulated vehicle, [the computer can] address issues, particularly in respect to adjusting the mirrors to look at the stability of the trailer, which is not always evident from the cab.”

He also explains how the simulator can bring up situations that it is impossible to recreate

on a drive around Dubai. “We also use for night time driving, and for addressing bad weather conditions. We can load up a range of different equipment – things we can’t just go out and do. Of course we can drive in the dark, but sometimes that is logistically not possible.”

It also isn’t possible to recreate mad drivers at will. On a simulated city road a virtual car hurtles into the side of me, and because I hadn’t checked my

mirror it would technically have been my fault, as Arfan Raza Hiji, the trainer who looks after the simulator chided me about.

PLUNGE Regarding my dramatic plunge over the mountain pass, Peter Richardson reminds me that this is a very common occurrence for loaded trucks – especially if you replace the hairpin bend with the approach to a roundabout.

“One of the main characteristics of any articulated vehicle is that if it is going through a curve over speed, the trailer starts to tip long before the effect is actually carried through to the cab that is actually pulling it. Such rollovers come as a great surprise to the driver as they are very dramatic, as the driver can’t feel it coming www.constructionweekonline.com

AC to dri

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TECHNOLOGY

over. So we will use the simulator as a whole combination of awareness” Richardson explains. With the number of accidents happening due to these exact circumstances, the role of the simulator won’t come a moment to soon as far as the dangerous roads are concerned.

RUN IN As mentioned, the new kit is still going through it’s ‘run in’ phase, but it has already been used by the civil defence for training on the various machines in sit-

WIDE LOAD The ‘cab’ can be set to the width of various models of

WHEEL The steeringwheel twitches

existing trucks.

and pulls as in a real truck.

ACTUAL The simulator is designed

SCREEN The screen monitored by

to complement, not replace actual

the trainer leaves no element of

driving.

doubt.

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August 2010 \\ PMV Middle East

036 TECHNOLOGY He added that the instructor can safely try to surprise the operator: “You can put in faults, you can jam the spreaders. You can quickly change the panniers out for a different crane model or different crane make.”

“So if you have different crane types in the yard, you can have different crane operations rail mounted gantry operations in the same day in a couple of minutes, load a new exercise and off you go.”

STALLED It is even possible to stall

REPLICATED Richardson believes

the simulator if your clutch control

the simulator will be useful for

isn’t what it should be.

situations that can’t be replicated.

uations that would be certainly impossible to reproduce, short of setting fire to a large part of central Deira. This actually opens up a new market fro the driving school: “We are increasingly doing more work with post-licence training on behalf of companies and organisations. In those circumstances the simulators address parts of the training that can’t be addressed on the road” clarifies Richardson.

Outside of the centre, instructors mill around the real-life trucks and buses, which of course, will always have a role to play. The midday heat makes it very difficult to actually absorb any information from an instructor. Out of interest, the types of vehicle this school normally

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uses include 7.5 tonne ‘puddle jumper’ style trucks and schoolbus style International buses.

Some time ago, we looked at another simulator based on a gantry crane at DP World. At the time, Julian Jones, the MD of a software company called Drilling Systems explained of a container-based simulator that he had set up for the firm:. You can plug it anywhere in the world – It supports voltages from 110 to 480. Its just plug and play. It was containerised locally. They will work 24 hous a day. First time I saw one, the guy said ‘hold on to something or you’ll fall over.’

Your brain takes over. You can put in wind, and alter its direction. Anything else is good too, rain or fog.

“We are doing more work with post licence training using the simulator” – Peter Richardson

THE ROLE OF SIMULATION For the reasons mentioned in the article, simulators are growing in popularity in industry, but not just in highway truck training. All manner of cranes are replicated with life-like controls and scenarios, while a whole cottage industry has sprung up building the equipment and programming the simulations. Aviation colleges have obviously had this kind of technology for years, but did you know that all types of mining equipment, and even offshore drilling rigs routinely use this kind of kit today?

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038 CITY PROFILE COUNTRY PROFILE

YANBU AND JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA They might both have miles of unspoilt beaches, but don’t expect to find sunbathing tourists at either Yanbu or Jubail in KSA. You will find machinery, as oil becomes ever more valuable hese industrial cities exist only for one reason – oil. As a result, demand for heavy kit is still booming. Located on opposite sides of the country, both cities are overseen by a ‘Royal Commision’, effectively a municipality that runs both places in spite of their disparate locations. Although less well known than Mecca, Jeddah or Damman, it is highly likely for years to come that Yanbu will be a major area of construction.

The town’s rise to prominence came in 1975 when the government designated what was then just a small settlement to be one of the new industrial centres – the other being Jubail on the east coast. Since, Yanbu has grown to be KSA’s ‘second’ port after Jeddah as an important petroleum shipping terminal. The city also acts as a port for Medina.

T

EXPORT The deepwater ports in these industrial cities make them ideal for oil tankers.

As a result, the city of 250,000 provides some strong opportunities for contractors – providing ample opportunity for machiner y suppliers, as well as those who maintain and operate heavy equipment and cranes.

In summer 2009, King Abdullah opened several projects in the industrial city, including the US $5.3bn Yanbu National Petrochemicals Company, road and bridge projects worth US $35m and US $533m of other projects all based in the Yanbu 2 project.

He also opened a SABIC development as well as an US $800m power station expansion. Meanwhile a US $3.7bn desalination plant has been signed off and an expansion plan for the Prince Abdul Moshen Bin Abdul Aziz airport has been launched.

LONG HAULS AT JUBAIL Back in 2007 heavy lifting firm Mammoet deployed its gantry lift at four places and in different configurations during the construction of various petrochemical complexes in Jubail. The first gantry lift was the positioning of a 106 meter long splitter.

The column weighing 880 tonnes was stood upright

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using a 112 meter high gantry fitted with 2900tonne units, and a CC 2500 tailing crane from another company. Mammoet’s LR 1750 with 134 meter boom was used to build the gantry. The gantry had to be built up again five kilometers further on for the second lift. Six weeks later Mammoet positioned a 92

meter long and 1600 tonne wash tower at this site.

Another six weeks later a third gantry lift was used to lift a 750-ton water quench tower onto a 15-meter high concrete base. The 63-meter long monster was first stood upright using a 93-meter high gantry with two 900tonne strandjacks and a CC8800-1 tailing crane,

and lifted up 17 meters. The column was then sledged over two skid tracks using two 65-tonne push-pull units until it was above the base. A month later the firm rounded off the gantry work in Jubail with the positioning of a 102-meter long column weighing 684 tonnes. A 107meter high gantry was used for this.

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039

COUNTRY CITY PROFILE

Confidence in the future of Yanbu remains very high. “Jubail and Yanbu are very successful stories. When they started in the 1980s everybody was saying ‘these people are crazy, don’t bother doing it’– everybody was grumbling about its failure and now everybody is talking about its success. It proved to be the right decision at the right time,” says Saudi deputy minister for town planning, Dr Abdulrahmen Al Shaikh.

“I know there are some who have their doubts about the success of the economic cities, but this is the nature of people. I believe they will prevail, because the Kingdom’s economy and resourses are sound and if it is the will of the government to support it, then it will go on.”

Oil barons Conoco Philips plant to built another 400,000bpd refinery in the city, which will inevitably lead to big contracts for the usual suspects, but will also open the field for firms that rent and supply specialist equipment and services too.

Despite our sniffy comments about tourism and hotels, Yanbu does boast at least one five-star option, the Radisson Blu. Also, tourists could try diving on the huge natural coral reef that surrounds the busy harbour.

$3.4bn Contract value of power plant

expansion project located some 8km to the west of the established Jubail One. Recent months have seen a flurry of big value contracts awarded, with little sign of a slowdown. Recently Saudi Arabia’s Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu awarded five construction contracts for Jubail Industrial City worth a total of US $257.5 million (SR964.3 million) while roads and highways haven’t been neglected, with an

JUBAIL Much like Yanbu, its congruent city on Saudi Arabia’s west coast, in 1975 Jubail was designated as an industrial city, and is now the largest industrial complex of its kind in the world.

Having been described as far back as 1983 as ‘the largest construction and engineering project ever attempted’, the city shows no sign of slowing down.

The city is now expanding to create a Jubail Two, an 84km

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BIG LIFT A giant crane lifts part of an oil refinery in Jubail.

CITIES SEE SOCIAL UNREST IN THE PAST Although generally peaceful, Yanbu has seen violence directed against expats in the past. At least four militants used security passes to access a local petrochemical plant. Once on the grounds of the facility, they stormed the offices of the Texas-based ABB Lummus and killed seven people. Two were Americans, two were British, one was Australian and one was a Saudi National Guard member.

A Canadian worker died May 15 of his wounds.

The attackers were believed linked to Al Qaeda, though Crown Prince Abdullah, de-facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, disputed these claims. Since 2003, militants have carried out attacks against the Saudi government and foreigners living there in an effort to topple the monarchy.

announcement made last month concerning a number of bridges which will make access to the Aldawi district much easier for heavy trucks and transport.

The largest contract, worth $93.5 million, was awarded to Azmeel Contracting and Construction Corporation in association with Saudi Tumpane Company for the first phase of Jubail’s Community site development. The contract will run for three and a half years.

Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco handed out 13 EPC contracts, worth a total of $9.6 billion, to undertake work on its Jubail Export Refinery mega project.

However, just because of the massive spending in this part of the world, don’t automatically assume that the money is freely spent. For a start, anywhere in Saudi is something of a closed shop, and areas that are tight-

“[The cities] proved to be the right desision at the right time” – Dr. Abdulrahmen Al Shaikh

ly controlled by the government due to the oil-based infrastructure obviously hamper free trade.

That said, a lot of large international companies, such as Bechtel are involved in engineering the landscape, and so it is logical that they might employ outside contractors and suppliers for items such as specialised heavy lifts or perhaps the supply and fit of crane anti-collision systems.

Manufacturing and infrastructure remain high on the agenda in the city. In anticipation of increased growth, Suez Energy International and Acwa Power Projects are constructing a $3.4 billion independent water and power plant for the Power and Water Utility Company for both Jubail and Yanbu. To get the four-block gas-turbine power station online as quickly as practical the power company are gong to need an influx of cranes and specialists for this type of infrastructure.

There are also tenders going out for desalination plants, as well as the construction for more general facilities, such as a community centre. For the first time, it is now possible to apply for building permits online – a radical step in Saudi Arabia.

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040 BACK TRACK

SCRUBBING Battersea power plant tried to be the cleanest of it’s type, but accedentally polluted the river.

‘CLEAN COAL’ EXPERIMENTS Furthering our look at dirty fuels, attempts to clean up coal have gone wrong in the past

W

e all know that coal is not, and cannot be literally clean. The chunks of anthracite are by definition pretty messy stuff, but the question that has been on everybody’s lips is can it be cleaned up so that it doesn’t pollute when burned? Lots of experiments are currently underway trying to ‘sequest’ carbon into the ground, and to scrub the toxic soot out of the atmosphere.

However, engineers who want to build this clean fixed plant of the future would do well remember the law of unintended consequences as demonstrated when building the Battersea Power Station – supposed to have been the cleanest plant of its day. (NonBritish readers might recognise this facility as the building on the sleeve of Pink Floyd’s 1976 ‘Animals’ album.) This station, like many other, tried to clean up what is essentially filthy technology, but ended up making things much worse.

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It is interesting to see how such a power station came about. In the UK, power had been generated from a clutch of small stations from the 1880s onwards. Like a modern-day genset, these stations would usually be commissioned for a few specific factories or public works, and any additional capacity could be sold to private homes. The voltage, supply type and nature of plug fitting were decided by the station operator.

Obviously in the age of modernism, this seemed like a pretty ancient way of doing things, so in 1925 the government nationalised all existing stations and and moved to a grid system. At a stroke, a lot of the Victorian stationary engines were obsolete, so the government went on a programme of constructing new power stations – one of which was to be situated in the industrial London suburb of Battersea.

Perhaps unsurprisingly there were protests from the local residents who thought that a very tall building built over fifteen acres

would cause something of an eyesore, and the amount of carcinogens produced by the coal-fired 400,000kva turbines, running all hours of the day and night would cause serious health issues in what was already a heavily polluted area.

The answer, with regards the eyesore was easy. The generating board hired industrial designer Sir Gilbert-Scott who had recently created icons such as the red telephone box. He wasted no time in drawing an elegant structure in the contemporary Art Deco style, graced with four tall chimneys, apparently mimicking classical columns. Cleaning up the emissions was also part of the planning application and this proved to be somewhat harder to sort out. Eventually, a compromise was reached The reduction of sulphur emissions had been an important factor since the station was in the design stages, as it was one of the main worries of those who protested the construction of the station. The London Power

Company began developing an experimental technique for washing the flue gases in 1925. It used water and alkaline sprays over scrubbers of steel and timber in the flue ducts. The gases were subject to continuous washing, and with the presence of the catalyst iron oxide, sulphur dioxide was converted into sulphuric acid. Battersea Power Station was one of the first commercial applications of this technique in the world.

However, the outflow form this scrubbing was hydrochloric acid, laced with heavy metal particles.

The unintended consequence was that the Thames became so polluted that the scrubbers were eventually removed, and the coalfired station breathed into the atmosphere again.

As such, the station was shut down in the early 1980s as gasfired and nuclear power took over. Today, the shell of the building lingers on – a sad ruin, reminding us of what could have been.

Sustainable Roads.

Paving the Way for a Greener Future. now in the GCC

Martec,Bund Corporation Regional Office GCC: P.O.Box.8811,Dubai,UAE Tel: +971 4 2989412 Fax: +971 4 2989413 Web: www.mbc-gcc.com