Dating back to the origins of the Yard in the 1970’s the Pile Rack was specifically built to manufacture the single piece tubular pile sections which were designed to anchor the offshore Jacket structures to the seabed. Using tubular sections manufactured in the Pipemill the piles were assembled to length on the Pile Rack. This facility comprised of a system of six rail mounted welding carriages which straddled a rotator and handling arrangement providing for positioning and control of the external welding process. The Pile Rack was capable of producing piles up to 2,134 mm in diameter x 120 m long and 400 Tonnes in weight.
In the mid 1980’s an additional pile handling system was built to improve the efficiency of transfer of piles from the Pile Rack into storage. The handling system included the building of a mechanical / hydraulic lift arrangement which was capable of offloading fully assembled piles from the Pile Rack onto specially adapted self-propelled trailers. Once supported on the trailers, the piles were then transferred into a purpose-built storage area formed of multiple lines of concrete support pillars. In preparation for delivery of the piles the trailers removed the piles from the storage area and transferred them to the quayside. At the quay cranes would lift the piles off the trailers and onto a transportation barge.