The Utility Pipelines Team of Deschacht is supplying the materials for a high-profile project in the port of Zeebrugge in cooperation with Van den Berg NV from Schelle. Van den Berg is carrying out a directional drilling operation of no less than 667 meters there, and Deschacht Utility Pipelines is supplying the duct pipes for this highly specialized operation.
Bundle of 13 HDPE ducts
Peter Cloet, Horizontal Directional Drilling Project Manager at Van den Berg: “Commissioned by construction company Artes Depret, grid operator Fluvius, and drinking water company Farys, we are carrying out a horizontal directional drill under the Verbindingsdok in Zeebrugge. A PE bundle of 13 pipes will be pulled through it for the transport of water, electricity, and data. The distance between the entry pit and exit pit is 667 meters, and we are drilling at a depth of 45.70 meters. This depth is necessary for driving the piles to support
the largest movable bridge in Europe.
For this extensive project, Deschacht Nutsleidingen is supplying the necessary HDPE casing pipes, type SDR9, in diameters of 110, 200, 250, 160, and 400 mm. An HDPE water pipe SDR11 with a diameter of 225 mm will be inserted into this last pipe.
Deschacht specializes in the supply of utility pipes
“HDPE is preferred for horizontal directional drilling due to its flexibility and resistance to high tensile forces,” says Nick Van Coppenolle of Deschacht Nutsleidingen. “We are very pleased with this order because it confirms our offering and expertise in this highly specialized segment. Trenchless techniques are increasingly being applied within the framework of the ‘no-dig’ and ‘less-disruption’ principles. Our Utilities business unit specializes in the supply of materials for these techniques.”
Drilling in three phases
“For the drilling we use a PRIME 80-ton rig with corresponding recycling and mixing unit, pumps, power generators and all associated small equipment and material,” Peter Cloet continues. “Because this is a so-called rock boring—there are hard layers of sand and shells beneath the dock—extra tooling must be used during the pilot boring. The drilling process takes place in three phases. First, a pilot bore is executed between the entry and exit pits by means of an optical gyroscope. This yields a bore tunnel with a diameter of 250 mm. Given that we are going to pull a bundle of 13 pipes here, that diameter must be reamed to 1200 mm in several steps. In the third phase we pull in the casing pipes which are ready at the exit pit—welded together to the desired length. For a project of this scale you must count on a completion period of 4 to 5 weeks anyway,” Peter Cloet concludes.
Year of establishment: 1973 Location: Steenwinkelstraat 640, 2627 Schelle Number of employees: approx. 550 Activity: Railway installations, underground infrastructure, technical installations, special projects. Van den Berg has extensive experience in cable and pipe construction and offers its customers high-quality infrastructure solutions. Underground and overhead cables and pipelines, horizontal directional drilling, high voltage and traction, networks and structured cabling systems, fiber optic networks, heat networks, signaling and monitoring systems, house connections, tunnel technical installations, and traffic techniques.
