Mammoet Installs First Villa at Luxury Red Sea Resort

Netherlands-based heavy-lift specialist Mammoet has installed the first overwater villa orb at the Sheybarah Island Resort off Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.

The prefabricated stainless-steel orb – one of an initial batch of four to arrive at the luxury location from the Port of Hamriyah in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates – was installed on its foundation using a 650-tonne capacity Demag CC3800 crawler crane positioned on top of Mammoet’s modified ALE 250 barge.

The barge’s shallow draft reduced the disturbance to the archipelago’s sensitive marine environment, Mammoet said.

At the construction jetty, the Demag loaded and placed the first orb on the barge deck before sailing to the installation area. At the site, the barge was positioned using a hyper-accurate GPS system and the barge’s own winches to ensure precise alignment with the foundation.

The barge was then stabilized using a retrofitted 300-tonne spud jacking system supplied by Combifloat – Mammoet’s partner for floating and self-elevating marine equipment used for nearshore operations. Lifting, lowering and re-positioning of the unit was achieved through a locally controlled jacking mechanism and a four-point mooring system.

The crane was raised to lift the orb into place – its superlift replaced by a system designed specifically for the project whereby the back mast of the CC3800 was “tied back” to the barge, giving the crane enough capacity to place the orb onto the foundation without requiring the additional mass of a superlift tray.

“Creative engineering at its best,” said Robert van Tinteren, lead project engineer for Mammoet. “It has been an exciting nine months building up to this point, but it never gets tedious to see the incredible things we at Mammoet can do when we put our minds to it!”

Mammoet was awarded a contract to transport and install all 73 villa pods last May. The operator is pairing up with P&O Maritime Logistics to help ship the units from the UAE.

The Sheybarah Island Resort is a key part of the kingdom’s Red Sea Project, a luxury eco-tourism and hospitality project being built over 28,000 square kilometres of pristine lands and waters along Saudi’s west coast.

The project, funded by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, or PIF, will eventually comprise 50 hotels and 1,300 residential properties across 22 islands and six inland sites. It will also house golf courses, luxury marinas and entertainment facilities.

First guests are expected to arrive this year with the launch of three hotels as well as the first phase of the Red Sea International airport. The entire development is slated for completion by 2023.

Mammoet will be exhibiting at Breakbulk Europe 2023, taking place on 6-8 June at the Rotterdam Ahoy Convention Centre.