Machinery and equipment are required for many pipeline construction activities such as stringing, bending, welding, ditching and lowering-in pipe, as well as backfill.

Nacap Equipment Manager Ross Demby says that his company identifies the equipment requirements for each pipeline project on an individual basis. If equipment needs to be sourced, the company generally checks local Australian suppliers first.

“Next, we go to our parent company Nacap BV Holland to check for surplus equipment in the plant yard. Depending on the equipment required, Australia, USA, Italy and Asia are the main countries from which we source plant and equipment.

“A consideration is the value of the Australian dollar to the US dollar, the Euro and the Yen. Nacap and Australian suppliers do their homework and generally purchase equipment when the monetary conditions are favourable,” Mr Demby says.

“Nacap has a strong relationship with machinery and equipment suppliers. We recommend changes in design and try to help the manufacturers design better, more efficient (cost and working), and safer machines for our pipelining requirements,” he says.

Equipment from overseas is usually transported in shipping containers or ‘roll-on/roll-off’ ships for bigger equipment. In Australia, Nacap uses a freight forwarder that has a large fleet of trucks moving around Australia every day. Mr Demby says flexibility is very important in moving gear to and from sites.

Onsite, Nacap uses hire companies for the purpose of moving machines and consumables.

Mr Demby says that Nacap has a policy of purchasing specialised pipeline equipment, such as bending machines, pipelayers, trenching machines, welding equipment and padding machines. He says that this equipment cannot be easily sourced from the hire companies.

However, he states, “We do not own large fleets of excavators, dozers and graders, as these machines are easily sourced at competitive rates, from the Australian market place.”

Equipment maintenance

Mr Demby says “When the equipment finishes a project, the mechanics identify the faults, servicing requirements and future modifications. After a discussion with senior management, the allocation of funds, for the different machines, is set aside.”

Nacap’s mechanics, electricians and utility welders then go to work in preparing small plant and large equipment for the next project. Pressure vessels are checked along with carbon monoxide monitors, crane certifications in place, and calibrations are followed accordingly for all small items.

Mr Demby says Nacap employs the best quality tradespeople to maintain and service its equipment. Once the company has started work on a project, heavy equipment is serviced to a set of defined rules.

“Every machine has a service every 28 days. On the nine-day cycle break, a team made up of mechanics, servicemen and welders repair, service and make the equipment ready for the next 28-day working cycle,” he says.

With this method of servicing Nacap has found that the equipment averages eight machine hours per working day, which means that the company is under recommended servicing intervals.

“The expense of proceeding this way may be higher, but we have no interruptions to the work cycle, and this allow us to not have to have night shift servicing.

“When the crew is on its nine-day cycle break, we have good quality time, checking for any faults that may take time to repair. Nacap also has any hired contractors work under the same servicing intervals,” says Mr Demby.

Light vehicles and heavy trucks are serviced according to their kilometre readings. All service records and check sheets are sent to the plant allocator to be entered into the computer system, and a hard copy is sent to Nacap’s plant yard, located in Campbellfield, Victoria, for filing.

Currently, Nacap is working on the Wonthaggi Desalination Pipeline project, as part of a joint venture with Thiess and Degrémont. Mr Demby says that Nacap’s machines are on a six-day cycle, so they are serviced according to an hourly meter of 250, 500, 750 or 1,000 hour services.

“Nacap consistently works at high production rates, which means it is very important to maintain our equipment regularly,” says Mr Demby.

“We look after all the safety aspects of our machines, to keep our personnel operating good, safe, serviced equipment. We have had zero lost time injuries in the past two years and aim to maintain a ‘no harm’ policy at all times,” Mr Demby says.

Equipment safety

Fire extinguishers and first aid kits are placed in all vehicles and operating machines, as are operator manuals and plant hazard information. Reverse warning sirens, flashing beacons mounted on the equipment roofs and all warning decals are part of Nacap’s safe working equipment.

“We have recently made handrails compulsory for all excavators and any equipment we have a height issue with,” Mr Demby says.

Nacap also requires the completion of daily check sheets for all heavy equipment and weekly check sheets for all light vehicles.

Mr Demby says regular servicing of machines and vehicles, testing of cranes, pipelayers, pressure vessels, carbon monoxide monitors and compressors are completed by third parties to help identify problems that may occur.