HDD record set in Meerhout (B)
In Meerhout, Belgium, Visser & Smit Hanab set a new record: a horizontal directional drilling (HDD) of over 1,825 m was completed successfully.
The drilling crew worked the entire weekend to make the drilled hole of the pilot bore accessible to the tube with a diameter of 500 mm. The operation to pull a 1,825-metre long HDPE pipe into the drill hole started on Monday, December 10 at 7:00 a.m.
However, the strand withdraw was too long to be extended in the Belgian countryside all at once. Halfway through the day, the pullback operation was interrupted for two hours to connect the two pieces of more than 900 m to each other.
After a long day, the pullback was eventually completed at 7:30 p.m. Visser & Smit Hanab has set another record with this project.
This HDD was part of the Aquafin project to increase the capacity of the Meerhout pumping station and the capacity of the sewage pipeline. The horizontal directional drilling runs along Zeeloop to Volmolenweg in Meerhout, Belgium, and connects the pumping station to the treatment plant in Mol.