Cargotec is supplying reach stackers with pipe-handling attachments to NorSea AS.

Cargotec has won a contract to supply seven Kalmar reach stackers equipped with special attachments to Norwegian Group AS (NorSea).

The reach stackers will handle gas pipeline sections for the Nord Stream Project that will supply Europe with gas from Russia via two parallel 1,220km (758 mile) pipes.

Approximately 120,000 pipe sections with an average weight of about 25 tonnes each will be handled by the machines.

EUPEC subcontracted NorSea to transport the concrete-coated pipes from Mukran, Germany to Gotland, Sweden and from Kota, Finland to Hanko, Finland. NorSea has also been subcontracted for the loading, offloading and interim storage of the pipe sections at temporary storage sites before they are shipped out to the barge that lays the pipe sections on the Baltic Sea bed.

According to Cargotec, pipe-handling solutions with reach stackers usually consist of a slave attachment connected to the spreader. The solution provided to NorSea is a fully integrated attachment.

Svante Alverönn, Cargotec's industrial business sales manager for Northern Europe, says the collaboration between the companies started in 1986 with NorSea's purchase of its first Kalmar forklift. In early 2009, Cargotec delivered three Kalmar reach stackers and two terminal tractors to NorSea.

"The integrated attachment is specially adapted for pipe handling [and] will increase reliability and safety," says Mikael Persson, director of Kalmar Reachstackers.

The equipment will be delivered in January 2010. The order also includes a service agreement.

Norwegian Group AS is a privately owned company established in 1965. It is a supplier of base services and integrated logistics systems to the Norwegian oil and gas industry. The company, headquartered in Tanager, has an approximate annual turnover of NOK1.5 billion (USD257.5 million).

Nord Stream AG is an international joint venture established to plan, construct, and subsequently operate, the new pipeline across the Baltic Sea.

EUPEC is an internationally-recognised provider of concrete weight coating, manufacturing pipe-in-pipe systems, providing cathodic protection, remote monitoring services for pipelines and other services in the pipeline sector.