Harbour deepening project: Pumps clear water to prepare for harbour excavation

Aproject to deepen the Sørlandsvågen harbour, on the island of Værøy in Norway, will allow larger ? shing vessels and ferries to enter the waters. Norwegian contractor Secora SA used two 457 mm Pioneer pumps to drain the harbour, which is located 130 km north off the Artic Circle.

A spokesman for Pioneer Pumps said although dredgers would normally be used for this task, the basalt granite floor of the harbour meant that the only way was to excavate the additional 3 m depth by drilling and blasting.

“The demand was for high performance pump sets that could cope with the volumes involved, have proven reliability and were able to meet strict environmental conditions. Because the pumps had to be mounted on barges, the number of pump sets had to be kept to a minimum and be able to run for long periods of time between refuelling,” the spokesman added.

Pioneer had nine weeks to design, build and deliver the custom PP450 high flow pumpset based on the Pioneer Prime Vacuum Assisted Self-Priming pump. They were mounted on skids with an integral fuel tank of 2000 litres, suffficient for 24-hour operation.

Simon Ruffi es, general manager at Pioneer Pumps said, “Many pumps suppliers don't like producing specials, especially when the delivery time is short. However, we see these as a way to demonstrate to customers not only the high performance of our pumps, but also our ability to pull all the stops out to deliver a service when required.”

Once the harbour is drained the project involves excavating 170000 m³ of loose material plus 150000 m³ of rock in an area of around 130000 m².