NORWEGIAN EARTHMOVER

The stunning Norwegian coastline at Drammen, just a 20-minute drive from Oslo is home to some large construction projects including a brand-new hospital and increased port facilities. Along with this new development, the requirement for much need new housing in this soughtafter commuter town was granted and with planning approved, construction work began in 2016. The construction work isn’t just a simple case of clearing land for the development, the land has had to be formed for the work to commence.

The 200,000m2 site is currently being constructed on what was part of the Drammen Fjord with the first part of the project involving the fjord being filled with large rock taken from some of the numerous quarries dotted around the area. This was then capped with a finer material to seal it and stop the water from percolating through the surface. The water depth differed from just 2m in depth to over 8m in places and required “a lot of rock”. With the foundation layer of material in place, the design of the fill required material to be stockpiled to a height of 8m above ground level as a surcharge pile, pushing down on the former lakebed and ensuring it becomes a stable and safe place to build upon.

Fortunately, other developments within the region came to the assistance of this project for the supply of a suitable material to create the surge pile. There is both a large water pipeline development and the new Drammenstunnelen railway being constructed within a few kilometres of the project. Up to 400 truckloads per day of rock was sent from these projects to the job site, all of which needs handling and processing. AWESOME EARTHMOVERS was invited along to see the project in action by Norwegian Instagram star, the_norwegian_earthmover, Martin Johansen, who was working at the site.

The huge waterfront project has seen the ground raised away from the high-water mark to enable the development to be untroubled by potential flooding. Constant deliveries of rock are handled by a pair of Caterpillar dozers including a new D6XE. Machine control is commonplace across the Scandinavian countries and this particular project is no different with both dozers sporting machine control systems to lay the large rock down in layers. As anyone who has tried laying out large stone, getting an accurate level isn’t the easiest, but the operators steadily push the material out letting it find its own level. Despite the abrasive material, both dozers are in a typical Norwegian specification of wide LGP pads, outside mounted draft arms with a straight blade with large side plates welded on to aid carrying capacity. Short pushes of material mean the undercarriage isn’t put under too much strain on the uneven, sharp material. As the surge pile is built up, the sloping sides are trimmed with another GPS equipped machine, this time a 50-tonne class Hitachi Zaxis 470 with 21m long reach equipment and Engcon tilt rotator.

the_norwegian_earthmover

Martin Johansen is a multi-skilled machine operator from Norway. Proficient on a wheeled loader, dozer or excavator, Martin is a man in demand. Whilst his current career sees him in a machine’s cab all day, the former paramedic is also a highly skilled drone operator running his company NorDrone (nordrone. no) across the region. Martin is also a well-respected member of the heavy equipment industry on Instagram where he showcases both his own work and others he works with on site.

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The huge material processing area on the project where stone is crushed and screened to a variety of sizes and used both on the site and shipped out by barge to a large hospital project currently under construction just around the bay. The processing area is constantly busy with a variety of excavators, loading shovels, crushers and screeners handling the material.

This is where we find Martin and his colleagues busy producing a high-quality mix of aggregates. A pair of Volvo loading shovels, Martin’s L260H with large capacity bucket was kept extremely busy moving both the virgin material and processed material between the two crushing teams and the various stockpiles. Volvo loading shovels are the favoured brand for Tanum who run a variety of sizes undertaking both this large-scale material handling right down to small construction works and snow clearing operations. The two crushers, a Sandvik US440i cone crusher and Kleemann MC110R jaw crusher were being loaded by a 50-tonne class Volvo EC480E excavator whilst the third machine, a Powerscreen Warrior 2100 was taking material from a new Volvo EC530E. The EC530E, along with the EC550E, is one of two large excavators recently launched by Volvo to fill the gap between the current EC480E and EC750E. The new excavators carry similar DNA to the popular EC480E but come with larger counterweight, more powerful and frugal engines and heavier undercarriages and counterweights in a bid to maximise machine productivity. The decision to add larger machines into the Volvo range of excavators has been made to meet the ever-increasing demands from clients to move larger amounts of material in shorter times. Both Volvo excavators were fitted with quick hitches to carry their heavy-duty rock buckets. The new EC530E carried a typical S-Type hitch whilst the EC480E used an unusual SMP hitch which reduced the additional height of the hitch to a minimum thanks to its hook and pin design. Both operators enjoyed the fact their machines carried hitches and allowed for a safer and quicker switch of attachments, but it was agreed that the SMP hitch allowed the EC480E to benefit from a higher breakout force and increased stockpile penetration.

With the two crushers and screeners producing material at a startling rate, both Martin’s L260H and an L150G were kept extremely busy. Martin ferried the processed materials to and from the processing area. In addition, the second loader was kept busy transferring stockpiled material onto the waiting barge moored just a few metres away on the lake edge.

Once the surge pile has settled the underlying former lakebed, the material will be removed and either shipped off site to another project or crushed on site and used in the ongoing construction process to build the new houses and associated infrastructure, depending on the requirements at the time.