UK company Osprey Group has won a multi-million pound contract to deliver all of the oversized equipment needed in the next phase of construction at the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant.
Osprey will use its expertise in both marine and heavy land transport to provide centralised logistics and management for all major critical assets coming into the site – giving project-critical support to HPC and its suppliers.
Osprey said suppliers to HPC are encouraged to showcase innovative methods than can help overcome the challenges of major infrastructure logistics. “This is Osprey’s forte: by using their learnings from a range of offshore oil and gas construction projects, Osprey’s multi-disciplined team identifies efficiencies and improves reliability in its delivery of logistics to major construction projects onshore.”
Osprey will become a strategically important, collaboration-focused Tier 1 supplier. The team’s shared services model removes many of the risks faced by one-off, critical asset suppliers – some delivering unique components weighing over 750 tonnes per piece – many of whom might not have the experience or local knowledge needed for organising specialist logistics to this particular site.
With HPC moving into the major next phase of its build, Tier 1 suppliers are liaising on tight schedules to install key critical permanent equipment, which includes steam generators, turbines and the nuclear reactors themselves, Osprey noted.
Osprey Commercial Director John O’Connor said the company was “exceptionally proud to partner with EDF to deliver strategic logistics for the project”. He added: “Normally, critical assets are called forward by the Construction Director, and multiple contractors complete the delivery. It’s an enormous task to perform this to the tightest of schedules, with so many contractors and interlocking phases of construction. You need a detailed plan and the right specialist heavy-logistics’ resources – all applied intelligently with a best for project, one team mindset.”
Osprey’s new working model is the result of close collaboration over a period of several years with the HPC team. By drawing on learnings from other sectors and being involved in much more of the planning than might be expected, Osprey said its leadership team “has created an approach to construction logistics that will make life easier not just for key project teams at HPC, but also their suppliers, and potentially for other projects of this scale too, such as Sizewell C”.
Nigel Cann, Delivery Director for HPC, said Osprey has already proved that they have the capability and expertise to deliver to the high standards of safety, quality and efficiency required for such a complex construction job.
Osprey will be transporting all of HPC’s largest assets – critical, one-off pieces of equipment manufactured around the world and delivered by water via a dedicated muster port at Avonmouth. From there, deliveries will be made to the build teams on site in line with predefined construction scheduling. Each consignment will be received direct from a delivery vessel before onward movement to the HPC terminal, cutting down on road use, disruption, and emissions.
“This is a brand new, specialist logistics model for receiving critical equipment. All in all, over £1billion of essential, critical assets will move through this operation over the coming years,” said O’Connor.
Photo: Osprey has been delivering and installing some of the world’s heaviest assets and largest abnormal loads for 25 years (Credit: Osprey)