Austrack Equipment’s SafeVac Lifting Systems, known for efficiency and safety, has just added another string to its bow: adaptability.
As Austrack Equipment launches into its second full year of production of its SafeVac Lifting Systems SV400 pipe vacuum lifter, the company isn’t resting on its laurels.
Austrack’s latest adaption of its vacuum lift is hard at work at Brisbane Airport’s Legacy runway. The terrain at the airport is certainly a change of scenery for the SV400, swapping the remoteness of typical pipeline projects for the close confines of an international airport runway.
Against the backdrop of Brisbane’s central business district, the SV400 is hard at work lifting four-tonne sections of old runway scheduled for replacement.
The individual sections of this 40-year-old runway are 4m long, 1m wide and 0.5m thick. Compounding the challenge is the grooved surface of the runway, calling for a very spongy seal to ensure compression and integrity of lift. But paradoxically, unique challenges are nothing out of the ordinary for Austrack, and the project is going off without a hitch.
Austrack General Manager Donna Owens said that it was precisely this reputation that helped the company secure a contract for the supply of lifting equipment for a job at Brisbane Airport.
“One of our clients who had used our SafeVacs on a water pipeline project was so impressed with the system that they asked us to adapt the shoes and the seal to accommodate the extraction of runway sections that needed to be replaced,” she told The Australian Pipeliner.
“We redesigned our shoes and fitted them out with some specialised neoprene seal that we sourced from Holland in Europe. The actual vacuum generation and supply remains an unmodified standard SV400 system.
“The reconfigured system worked perfectly and lifted the concrete sections with ease doing away with the drilling and fixing of lifting lugs and slinging of the sections that might otherwise be required.”
This latest iteration of the SV400 isn’t the only thing new at Austrack. At last year’s Australian Pipelines and Gas Association (APGA) Convention, the company took out the award for ‘Best Exhibit’. This year, Austrack is working hard to deliver the same standard.
“Last year was our first year exhibiting at the annual APGA event and we were both surprised and delighted to be awarded ‘Best Exhibit’,” Owens said.
“This year we have taken one of the equipment areas as well as a double booth, so we have raised the bar and given ourselves a challenge.
“We are feeling a certain pressure to perform, but performing under pressure is par for the course at Austrack.
“We are very busy putting the finishing touches to the machine that will feature in our equipment display area at Adelaide.”
Owens was cautious about spoiling the surprise but hinted that the company has continued on its vacuum lifter journey.
“What we are planning to bring to Adelaide is going to mean a visit to our display at the show will be well worth the trouble,” she said.
“I can also advise that Austrack have just been appointed as exclusive agents for Australia and New Zealand for a European excavator bucket manufacturer.
“World shipping routes obliging, we plan to have the best of our new business partners quality products on display in Adelaide – yet another compelling reason to visit our display.”
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This feature also appears in the September edition of The Australian Pipeliner.