This year Cake Commercial Services have had the privilege of being engaged by Energy Fiji Limited (EFL) to carry out the refurbishment and painting of Transmission Towers throughout Fiji.
This year Cake Commercial Services have had the privilege of being engaged by Energy Fiji Limited (EFl) to carry out the painting of Transmission Towers throughout Fiji.
To carry out these works Cake Group have established a base of operations in Suva, the island nations capital. Cake have also assembled a Fiji Towers team, comprised of Fijian workers and a rotating crew from our New Zealand Towers team.
The project involves the complete refurbishment of 51 Transmission Towers on Fiji’s main Transmission Line. The steel lattice towers range from 20 – 45 metres in height and are found roughly an hour outside of Suva amongst dense jungle and in local village communities. The remote terrain required completely new access tracks to be made so that the Cake team could safely access the Transmission Towers.
The process is very high risk as it requires our team to be working at heights and in energised zones. As such we require our team to complete specialised training and certifications to ensure that they have the skills necessary to carry out their works with a high degree of safety.
Onsite at each Tower, the refurbishment process involves the installation of earth plates, minor steel replacement, bolt replacement and torqueing, high pressure water blasting, wet abrasive blasting, and the application of a 3 coat Protective Coating.
While the Tower refurbishment process remains the same as in New Zealand, unique to Fiji are the environmental conditions. Working in high temperatures and in intense humidity required the close monitoring of our team for signs of heatstroke, fatigue, and dehydration to ensure their safety.
Operating outside of Suva gave Cake a much-appreciated opportunity to work with the local villages, ensuring that they were happy with our presence on the land and giving us a chance to learn more about Fijian culture and customs. A noteworthy experience has been the ‘Sevu Sevu’, a traditional Fijian welcome and blessing ceremony carried out by the Chief of each village we have worked in.
Overall Cake’s Transmission Tower Painting operation in Fiji has been resoundingly positive so far and we hope to continue providing our Towers services to EFL into the future.
