When Bechtel approached Techlift to provide the project with a rigging engineer for a couple of months, little did we know that our first experience of working in this fascinating land would last nearly 2 years...!
Fjarðaál Aluminium Smelter, Iceland
Bechtel Corporation
Rigging Engineers, Training Services, Rigging Team
2006-2007
On the remote East coast of Iceland, near the edge of the Arctic Circle, Alcoa set out to construct a new primary aluminium smelter plant. Although Iceland has very few proven mineral resources what it does have in abundance is hydroelectric power sources and aluminium smelting is power hungry!
Fjarðaál, which was the name given to the new plant and means aluminium of the fjords, was designed and built by US construction giant Bechtel Corporation.
When Bechtel approached Techlift to provide the project with a rigging engineer for a couple of months, little did we know that our first experience of working in this fascinating land would last nearly 2 years...!
At the height of the project Techlift was providing a team of heavy lift engineers to support Bechtel and Mammoet. We carried out rigger training and assessment of the Polish workforce, overhead crane training of the local Icelandic staff and provided a team of our own specialist machine handling personnel to install equipment in plant rooms.
The project provided numerous challenges to all involved. In Iceland winds can reach more than 160 kilometres per hour, with temperatures as low as -25˚C and near perpetual darkness during the winter months. Not ideal conditions to undertake lifting operations and module transportation!
Several years later the fictitious town of Fortitude, which featured in the 2014 Sky Atlantic physiological thriller series of the same name seemed strangely familiar to our team who had worked on the Icelandic smelter project.
After at little investigation we discovered that it was filmed in Reyðarfjörður, the next village along from the smelter and the location of the only bar and restaurant for miles, which also features in the TV show..!
Iceland is a stunning country, the prehistoric beauty of its landscape filled with waterfalls, fjords, volcanoes and glaciers. Not to mention the breath-taking sights and sounds of the Northern Lights.
This island nation and its welcoming people left a lasting impression on the Techlift team who had the privilege to work on the project. Hopefully we will get the opportunity to return one day.
