This would have caused huge downtime losses to the Dry Dock management, and hence they put out a tender for hiring a temporary pumping arrangement to handle about 8000 m3/hr of seawater to be pumped out from the dry dock, over the 20m high gate, which closes after the ship comes in.

Gulf Sands proposed a setup of 18” and 12” Cornell pumps installed on the client’s barge, to handle the required flow, using 630mm dia HDPE discharge pipes.

The installation process was very challenging, as the discharge pipes had to be placed on a temporary scaffold structure on the top of the dry dock (ground level), to ensure that the discharge pipes were in one location, as the barge would rise and fall, as per the water level in the dry dock.The contract was for a period of 30 days.