Friedlander Cameroon, an Ortec group subsidiary, has carried out a complete revamp of a damaged berth at the SONARA refinery.

SONARA (Société Nationale de Raffinage) runs a crude oil refinery in Limbé (Cameroon). Following a malfunction, certain structures were damaged and others were permanently lost.

The Ortec group was asked to perform a difficult three-stage task:

• the reconstruction of three berthing dolphins
• the reinforcement of the main structure at the bert
• the reinforcement of the three mooring dolphins

Colossal works

The largest structures (piles, liners and pile heads) were prefabricated and assembled at the Douala site (60 km south of Limbé).
They were then brought to Limbé by barge, where the reinforcement, prefabrication and assembly of the other structures were already taking place.

In all, 650 metric tons of steel, 15 metric tons of welding rod and 150 metric tons of equipment were necessary.

100,000 man hours

The teams from the Ortec group had to cope with the stresses of working on an offshore facility such as:

• the use of high-strength steel
• working on scaffolding suspended above the water
• welding between the two daily tides
• working conditions associated with the heat from preheating (150 to 200°C)