VolkerTrenchless Solutions projects

Visser & Smit Hanab has been commissioned by TenneT to construct a 380 kV cable crossing under the North Sea Canal, including the substations on each bank. To minimise the disruption to shipping along the navigable channel, the decision was made to cross the water underground.

The ministry of infrastructure and the Environment will be extending the busy motorways between Schiphol, Amsterdam and Almere over the coming years. This will ensure the region remains accessible. At the same time, the Ministery will be improving the quality of life along the motorways. The extension of the A9 Gaasperdammerweg and construction of a three-kilometre tunnel to reduce noise and air pollution will start in 2015.

Engineering film Joulz constructed a new high-voltage connection between Middelharnis and Geervliet, commissioned by Stedin. The 18-kilometre-long connection is part of improvement works to the electricity grid on Goeree-Overflakkee.

The last weekend in June saw a spectacular feat of pipeline installation. Visser & Smit Hanab’s 27-tonne horizontal directional drilling (HDD) rig was mobilised and manoeuvred into an operational working corridor of just 4.5 metres wide between two extensively used tracks. Consequently, the logistical and operational planning for this project was crucial.

Gasunie commissioned Visser & Smit Hanab to lay the southern section of a 90-kilometre-long gas transport pipeline stretching from Beverwijk (North Holland) to the Wijngaarden compressor station (South Holland). This pipeline has a diameter of 1.22 metres (48”) and is necessary to ensure that natural gas transport capacity remains sufficient to meet future demand.

Dutch energy company Eneco has started construction on a new offshore wind farm: Luchterduinen. The site is located 23 kilometres off the coast between Noordwijk and Zandvoort, and will comprise 43 wind turbines. Following completion in 2015, the wind farm will generate enough green power for some 150,000 households. The power generated will be transported to shore by a 150kV cable buried under the seabed.

The A.G. Wildervanck Canal in Veendam is currently being dredged to enable larger vessels to use the canel. The existing water pipeline, which runs under the canal, is currently not deep enough for this operation to be completed. For this reason, in December 2013, Visser & Smit Hanab was commissioned by the local water company to lay a new pipeline under the canal.

Visser & Smit Hanab conducted a gas pipeline from Beverwijk to Wijngaarden for Gasunie NV. Therefore the Moerkapelle Ringvaart canal had to be crossed. This crossing would initially be implemented through a closed front drilling with a length of 33 meters. However, it would be complicated concerning to water resources, intersection of four existing sheet piling, crossing existing road and crosses or rerouting existing cables and pipelines.

Harmelen (municipality of Woerden) is regularly affected by power failures. Consequently, regional grid operator Stedin has decided to invest in both increasing capacity and replacing cables. These measures should help reduce the duration and impact of any power outages that do occur. Visser & Smit Hanab has been commissioned to execute the project.

The Danish Energinet commissioned Visser & Smit Hanab to construct around 94 kilometres of 30” (DN700) natural gas transport pipelines on the Frøslev – Egtved pipeline route in Denmark. This pertained to a gas transport pipeline between Egtved compressor station and the Danish-German border near Frøslev. The pipeline was constructed for the purposes of increasing Danish gas capacity.

Visser & Smit Hanab carried out a unique project for Statoil in Norway. Wind, rain, snow and rock had to be battled. The assignment involved detailed engineering and horizontal directional drilling from the site of the oil refinery in Mongstad, Norway, to the adjacent fjord.

Commissioned by the Italian piping company Bonatti and the German company WINGAS (a joint venture by Wintershall, the largest gas producer in Germany and the Russian OAO Gazprom), Visser & Smit Hanab undertook four drillings between August and December 2011 in Germany. In doing so, Visser & Smit Hanab achieved the longest and largest drilling ever undertaken in Europe, in terms of length and diameter.

BritNed, a joint venture between National Grid and TenneT, is developing a subsea electricity link between Great Britain and The Netherlands. The BritNed cables have a capacity of 1000 MW and are 260 km long. The link is laid beneath the North Sea and runs between the Isle of Grain in Kent in the UK and the Maasvlakte, near Rotterdam, in The Netherlands.

By means of two horizontal directional drillings of 1,350 metres and 1,450 metres, Visser & Smit Hanab installed a 48" gas pipeline under the Western Scheldt (river, which flows directly into the North Sea) for the 'Nederlandse Gasunie'. In particular, the artificial island in the Western Scheldt where the 450 ton drill rig was set, is unique.

The delivery of softened drinking water in Zwijndrecht and to an area of Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht has been a much soughtafter wish for many years; both for the inhabitants and for Oasen. Since the end of 2007 concrete plans have been in place. Oasen decided to procure softened drinking water from the water company Evides.

The WRK project consits of the almost trenchless construction of a pipeline along the A2 highway in the Netherlands. The project involved the design, delivery and construction of a double water pipeline over a length of around 5 kilometres. Additionally, most of the existing pipeline was removed with the exception of the part passing under the A2 highway and the N201/Geuzensloot main road. This part of the existing pipeline was filled up.

Projects