DEMOLITION OF PORT KEMBLA COAL TERMINAL STACKER RECLAIMER.

Locat ionWo l l o n g o n g N S W

Cl ientP o r t K e m b l a C o a l Te r m i n a l L t d ( P K C T )

Durat ion6 m o n t h s

Project overviewThe project involves the demolition of a coal Reclaimer and a coal Stacker at Port

Kembla Coal Terminal. These machines will be removed to allow the installation

of new plant as part of a broader PKCT restoration and compliance project.

The decommissioned reclaimer must be relocated to a dedicated demolition

area, away from any live plant. This will happen in 2 stages: first the machine will

be pulled from its stockyard, over a bridge, and away from the live conveyor line.

Then the machine will be transported to a further designated area for demolition

and processing.

Prior to moving the structure, Liberty Industrial disconnected and extracted the

impact table from underneath the Reclaimer while it was still in the stockyard,

without damage to the conveyor belt. Once disconnected from all its services,

the 1250t structure was pulled over purposely built extension rails to a temporary

position where the machine underwent all preparatory works required for its

transport using Self-Propelled Modular Trailers. To pick-up and secure the

Reclaimer in position during transport, a special-purpose 40t steel “transport

frame” was fabricated and mounted on the bed of the SPMT trailers.

Once lowered to the ground and secured, the structure was pre-weakened to

facilitate its demolition with explosive cutting charges. The charges were placed

at strategic locations and the pre-weakening cuts verified by our consulting

structural engineer. After the structure was safely collapsed to ground level, a

combination of 70t & 36t excavators fitted with shear attachments processed the

steel structure for removal and recycling off site.

The coal Stacker to be removed is straddling an operating conveyor line. Hence

the demolition methodology will involve dismantling the structure into smaller

components using heavy crane lifts, with minimal impact on PKCT’s operations.

To achieve this, Liberty Industrial will utilise a 600t crawler crane located within

one of the coal stockyards.

Prior to the deconstruction, engineered lift studies along with structural engineering

assessments will be completed - the structure will then be prepared accordingly.

C L I C K T O WAT C Ho r v i s i t v i m e o . c o m / l i b e r t y i n d u s t r i a l

After completion of the lifts, the lowered sections of the structure will be downsized

at ground level, lifted onto trucks and transported to the main demolition area for

processing by excavators with shear attachments. The products of demolition

will then be transported off site for recycling.

The project also involves the salvage of a various range of items (i.e. drive units,

electrical and PLC cabinets, cable reelers, transformers etc.) which will be

retained by PKCT as spare parts for the machines still in operation inside the

terminal. The salvage must happen before the demolition works can occur in

order to minimise potential damage to the items – this will principally involves the

use of mobile cranes to lower the items down to the ground.

As some of the works described above are shutdown dependant, all preparatory

works will be carried out when the plant is still live, without disrupting PKCT’s

operations.

In post tender consultation with the client, third party structural engineer and our cranage contractor, we developed a high level methodology with preliminary lifting plans, which ultimately secured the contract for Liberty Industrial.