Eekels keeps a pontoon carrying a total of 660 tons balanced with seven pumps

On Saturday 10 September, Eekels Pompen in Zwijndrecht delivered seven pumps to a major transport company that specialises in transporting heavy and oversize loads for the oil and gas industry. The pumps were utilised to maintain the balance of a floating platform that was being used to transport three pieces of heavy equipment for a drilling platform to Vlissingen.

Filling and emptying ballast tanks

The pontoon was used to transport 3 separate components, each weighing 220 tons, for a drilling platform. The pumps from Eekels were used to keep the pontoon from capsizing. The pontoon was equipped with various containers that could be filled with water or emptied to balance the weight of the total load. When the weight at the front of the pontoon increased, the ballast tanks at the rear of the pontoon had to be filled with water so that the pontoon remained level. The pumps from Eekels pumped water into and out of the pontoon’s ballast tanks as necessary. Eekels supplied Betsy 125 pumps for this project.

Once the components had arrived safely in Vlissingen, the separate components were assembled.