The prestigious HLPFI awards, like most other awards this year, were handed virtually due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The winners of the awards are being revealed virtually from 5th October till 21st October. 

The awards reward, recognise, and celebrate excellence in the project cargo supply chain, from the companies that have executed complex transport operations and implemented safe and environmentally friendly working practices, to the people that have dedicated a lifetime of leadership and innovation to the sector.

Sarens won the Project of the Year award for the Soderstrom Railway Bridge project in Sweden sponsored by Fesco Projects and the Safety Award sponsored by Deugro group. This great victory for Sarens was announced on 19th and 12th October respectively. 

The details of the two categories are:

Project of the Year - Soderstrom railway bridge project in Sweden

In a multi-phase project, Sarens replaced an old railway bridge in the busy city centre of Stockholm with a 190-metre long bridge section weighing 1.400-tonne. The operation involved loading out three new bridge sections in Tallinn, Estonia; transporting them on Sarens’ largest seagoing barge Caroline and several inland vessels; and installing them in Stockholm using the ‘floatover’ method. Our team deployed several seagoing and inland vessels, as well as auxiliary equipment to accomplish the task. The shutdown of the bridge was limited to just eight weeks, meaning extraordinary planning was required to complete this project on time. Watch the video of the operation here!

Safety Award

According to the jury, “Sarens impressed our judges with its comprehensive safety programme that has been implemented across the company with clear objectives and defined messages. For our judges it was clear to see how Sarens has always endeavored to create a culture of safety across the company.” They added, “This was clearly demonstrated in 2019 when it implemented an Integrated Management System. The framework combines all aspects of an organisation’s systems, processes, and any standards that the business follows such as those for safety and health, environmental and quality (SHEQ) management. Sarens showed that safety was at the top of its priority list with a global integrated certification; zero harm training and safety campaigns; and IT tools.”

According to our Group SHEQ Manager, Joris Mareels, “Our SHEQ policy aims to ensure alignment to the Sarens mission and values, where “Dedication to Safety” means ensuring that harm is not inflicted upon our employees, contractors, service providers, or the environment, Sarens assets, as well as members of the public affected by its operations, infrastructure and all operational activities within the scope of heavy lifting, special transport, assembly, disassembly and maintenance in industry and infrastructure.” 

All the employees strictly follow our SHEQ objectives in their day-to-day operations. To further encourage compliance, we launched our safety mascots, Sam and Sarah, to create safety awareness across the organisation. Our Integrated Management System has helped us meticulously work in the past few months in countering the Covid-19 crisis and securing the safety and well-being of our employees, clients, contractors, and people around us. 

Sarens is proud of the awards we received and would like to congratulate all our employees for their dedication and hard work!