OSPREY – FLEXIBLE AND FORWARD-THINKING FOR HPC
Ingenuity, flexibility and experience shape the programme for incoming multi-origin assets and onwards deliveries of key infrastructure to the Hinkley Point C site.
We specialise in handling critical infrastructure and mitigating risks around the transport of one-off, over-sized, critical items – often originating from overseas. For Hinkley Point C (HPC), we have recently collected, shipped, and moved a number of crucial components for the site’s operating infrastructure: Ultimate Diesel Generators (UDGs).
LIASING WITH SUB-CONTRACTORS
The UDG tanks are important early assets being installed and form an important part of the new station’s power infrastructure system. Our role involved creating an end-to-end logistics plan that saw us working in close partnership with several other contractors, across five countries:
- We loaded the tanks onto our trailers in Kramolin, Czech Republic, collaborating with local on-site teams – for us, language is not a barrier to health, safety, or security.
- Working with local specialist haulage partners, we transported the tanks by road to an inland river location at the Port of Bratislava, Slovakia.
- From those road-trailers, our plans ensured the tanks were lifted safely onto inland barges and transported down-river to Rotterdam.
- By organising our logistics this way, we minimised transport by road – saving over 1,300 km worth of road transportation and, more importantly, removing abnormal loads from the road network.
- In Rotterdam, the tanks were lifted back onto road-trailers and loaded onto the ferry for onward shipping to the UK and the construction site itself. Allelys Heavy Haulage (our long-term partners in heavy road logistics) undertook this part of the move for us. Our on-the-ground teams know each other well, which helps us to work efficiently together.
PASSING CONFIDENCE ON TO OUR CLIENT
Some multi-modal logistics require us to liaise with several sub-contractors on a project simultaneously, in different countries, often in different languages.
By building up relationships over a long period of time – we’ve been moving and installing assets like this for 25 years now – we can offer greater levels of confidence to our clients. We know which contractors meet our standards and we know which contractors are prepared to handle the unknown, if it arises.
Being flexible, understanding each other’s capabilities in detail, and having the experience to work collaboratively through the logistics phase means we can mitigate the risk of possible delays.
BEING FLEXIBLE, BEING RESPONSIVE
Every multimodal project is a challenge, but ingenuity, flexibility, and plenty of experience enable us to meet the programme’s objectives.
Jan Coetsee, Project Manager at Osprey: “En route, there were many challenges to overcome – the least of which was scheduling around low water levels due to one of the driest winters in Europe, different transhipment points along the journey, and the impact of working through a pandemic.
A second set of UDG tanks is still at its factory in the Czech Republic and planning for their transportation is scheduled for 2021.
