International heavy lift and transport contractor ALE has taken its super heavy jacking capacity above 100,000 tonnes. It is adding new jacking systems and improving existing equipment.

UK-headquartered ALE said the move is in response to customer requests for it to perform jacking operations on three jobs at the same time. Four new towers have been built in Breda, Netherlands, for the Mega Jack system. There are now 16 towers of 5,200 tonnes capacity, offering a total of more than 83,000 tonnes.

Combining the above with ALE’s Mega Jack 800 already in the fleet and its new, smaller Mega Jack 300, takes the company’s total jacking capacity to more than 100,000 tonnes.

The Mega Jack 300 has a capacity of 300 tonnes per leg and will be launched in March. It is a smaller version of the 800 tonnes-per-leg Mega Jack 800. As it is smaller it takes up less space and and it is also lighter, making it suitable for applications in smaller ports and on civils projects, especially where space is at more of a premioum, ALE said.

Commenting on the fleet expansion, Ronald Hoefmans, ALE technical director, said, “We are always looking at developing new solutions to upcoming challenges and work closely with our clients to find out how we can help them. We have seen an increase in demand for the Mega Jack and, as such, we decided to build additional towers to satisfy three projects that are taking place at a similar time.”

The new Mega Jack 800 towers will be put to work in March for the first time on a job in Mexico to jack up an offshore platform for an oil & gas project. Other ALE towers are working concurrently in the UAE, to jack up an offshore wind platform, and in Australia, on a bridge project.