A hakpark annual review 2012 by a.hakpark

a.hakpark magazine

annual review 2012 publication for employees and relations issue 5 | may 2013 | volume 2

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC; A year of investments in the futureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Marco van Geenhuizen CEO

Success abroad In construction projects and specialist services

Room for innovation Investments allow for new developments

Close ties Companies work together for and with their clients

ballasting WITH CONCRETE Concrete weight coating is applied to offshore pipelines and river and lake crossings to provide them with negative buoyancy and mechanical protection. Since September 2012, Conline-Rhenania has acquired five contracts for projects requiring this procedure. The pipes are first PE coated at our Maassluis plant before having a concrete coating applied at Conlineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dordrecht site. Concrete weight coating is dried by steam to accelerate the hardening process. This curing technique makes the process independent of weather conditions. After 5 to 6 hours the coating has cured sufficiently for further handling.

preamble

Investing in a wonderful future A.Hakpark had a reasonably successful year in 2012. The operating profit was about 4,3% of turnover. Somewhat less than had been expected, but not bad at all in the light of the global economic situation. We were able to make additional investments in machinery, buildings and professional staff and took the first steps towards clustering business units in order to achieve more synergy in terms of knowledge and capacity. This way we improved the starting point for a very promising future.

colophon PHOTOGRAPHY Harry Pelgrim Maarten van der Voorde and others

Unfortunately, 2012 did not turn out to be the year of global economic recovery. After the crisis in Greece, Europe had to save Cyprus from financial collapse. In the Netherlands, as in other European countries, cutbacks are required to balance the books again. But 2013 is also showing some positive developments. Shale gas extraction will make the US energy-independent, generating an economic impulse worldwide. Throughout the world the search for sustainable energy alternatives intensified after the dramatic nuclear disaster at Fukushima. The use of fibre-optics and the roll-out of smart networks is still going on at a dazzling speed in the telecom and utilities sectors. These are all developments that provide opportunities for A.Hakpark.

TEXTS Adriaan van Hooijdonk Richard van Santen EDITING Richard van Santen CONCEPT/DESIGN

For 2013, we expect that the diversity of our companies will ensure national and international growth in turnover and results. In the Netherlands, we are working on one of the last parts of the ‘Gas Roundabout’. We will also continue our strategy of internationalisation. The number of orders for large pipelines in the Middle-East is rising and there is a worldwide increase in the demand for our specialist services.

Medamo, Rotterdam PRODUCTION NPN Drukkers contact communicatie@a-hak.nl The Annual Review 2012

In the coming years, A.Hakpark will keep on paying particular attention to innovation, sustainability and safety in its business operations. If we continue to take on professional and highly motivated staff, put people where their talents can be best applied within our clusters and look for cooperation with the right international partners, we can be a formidable player anywhere in the world. In many ways we already are, as you will discover reading this annual report. I hope you enjoy reading it!

is a special edition of the magazine for employees

Marco van Geenhuizen

and business contacts

CEO

of A.Hakpark.

issue 5 | may 2013 volume 2

CONTENTS annual review 2012

35 Demand from abroad for specialist services A.Hakpark is continuing its strategy of internationalisation, including specialist services such as drilling work in Colombia.

Expanded room for growth

Building further with Gasunie

Investments in buildings and facilities in Tricht are providing more opportunities for research, training and development.

We still find ways to renew and improve our partnership, even as the latest construction jobs take shape. Exploring new contract forms and the involvement of new A.Hakpark partners.

Training with Liander

HIS opens office in Malaysia

The network operator Liander is searching and recruiting new technicians who will be trained together with A.HakÂ Infranet.

HIS has opened an office in Kuala Lumpur in order to provide better service in Southeast Asia and respond to its markets.

04 Preamble 06 Brief report on 2012 12 Plaisier: the first year 13 Short items 14 Drachten regains its canal 16 CSR and charitable causes 22 Water across the wadi 31 High tension

32 Monitoring the Sand Engine 34 Safety and quality 38 Sustainability in Lisse 40 Intelligent and wireless 42 Gas storage in Bergermeer 43 Short items 44 Chemistry with DSM 50 Summary of companies

2012 was a year of attractive and interesting projects that we proudly present in this annual review. Despite the continuing adverse economic conditions, A.Hakpark has again been able to close the financial year with a very respectable result. Thanks to large investments we are even better positioned for 2013 in a world that keeps growing for A.Hakpark. TEXT Richard van Santen PHOTOGRAPHY Arno Vos

Reasonably successful, promising prospects I

Key figures for 2012

In thousands of euros

2012

2011

407,366 389,727

418,851 396,437

Operating profit/EBIT

17,639

22,414

Depreciations and amortisations

16,926

15,657

Operating revenues Operating costs

Normalised EBITDA

34,565

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38,071

f we only look at the figures, we can see that 2012 will be remembered as a reasonably successful year for A.Hakpark. The operating income compared to 2011 (€ 418.9 million) showed a modest decline, totalling € 407.4 million. On that amount, a solid operating profit of 4.3% was achieved. If we take into account the economic and financial market conditions at national and international levels, we can safely say that A.Hakpark has held up very well under a situation that remains challenging. Although it became clear over the course of the year that the upward trend in operating income seen in recent years would not continue into 2012, A.Hakpark nevertheless decided to invest in the future. In total, about € 42 million was invested in real estate, machines and installations in the past financial year. The extensive remodelling and renovation of the headquarters in Tricht as well as the construction of an office building for A.Hak Industrial Services and four large industrial units were all completed in 2012. Other real estate investments were the acquisition of premises in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht in the Netherlands, Meppen in Germany, and Houston in the United States.

In the province of Limburg we worked on one of the last sections of Gasunie's North-South Route.

INVESTMENT IN DEVELOPMENT

Investment in equipment included a substantial acquisition of materials and equipment for A.Hak Leidingbouw and A.Hak Drillcon by way of purchasing part of the assets of Nacap. A.Hakpark could also offer jobs to a large number of former Nacap employees. Partly as a result of this, the average number of employees with a permanent employment contract increased to 2,217 from 2,065 in 2011. In Germany Reinhard Rohrbau was added to the group. This company bought

the assets and liabilities of the Meppen branch of Nacap GmbH. A.Hakpark expects, in accordance with its objectives, that most of the benefits of its investment in equipment will be realised abroad. This expectation has been partly met already by acquiring a number of drilling contracts in Colombia (more details on page 35) and Nigeria. The new and renovated buildings in Tricht give various A.Hakpark companies the space to continue development with the aid of research and development

and state-of-the-art testing and training facilities. A.Hak Industrial Services’ new test loops and the welding centre of A.Hak Leidingbouw’s Welding Service are good examples of this which are further described in the next article. COMPANY RESULTS

The major infrastructure projects for transport pipelines in the Netherlands are approaching completion. In line with our expectations, we saw a resulting fall in revenues from this sector.

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Corporate social responsibility

To operate in a careful and caring manner, our interpretation of the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), has received the attention it deserves in 2012. In difficult economic times respect for people, nature and the environment remains a natural part of the way A.Hakpark operates. The construction of an underground car park that respects the landscape of our location at Tricht contributes to this. Moreover, Tjaden and A.Hak Drillcon have constructed our own thermal storage system, which greatly increases the sustainability of our energy consumption.

Despite this, at the start of October, A.Hak Leidingbouw, as an aQuaintance shareholder, signed a five-year contract for the engineering, procurement and implementation of all the national onshore projects of the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM). H.J. Mertens was also able to win an interesting framework contract via a European tendering process. Together with A.Hak Leidingbouw and A.Hak Industrie, Mertens will contribute to the renovation of about 1,100 gas receiver stations for Gasunie over the next 10 to 15 years.

to the upward trend started the previous year. This has put them a step further on the road to the desired result. The shares of Plaisier, the company that carries out the combined laying of pipelines and cables in the northern part of the Province of Noord-Holland, were transferred to A.Hakpark in February 2012. The company is now fully incorporated into the group and has been able to make a positive contribution to the results. On average, the production companies have delivered a reasonable result despite a small drop in production.

The order books look healthy, both at home and abroad

PROSPECTS

In an international perspective, the delay we incur by the slow granting of permits and compulsory purchase procedures in the Ras Al Zaur project (the construction of a large drinking water pipeline to Riyadh) is still creating difficulties. However, thanks to the scaling down of the organisation in Saudi Arabia and an attractive follow-up assignment in Iraq, reasonably good results could be achieved. A.Hak Industrial Services has been able to retain its profits, both at home and abroad. Further investments in the internal organisation and its own training facilities were made in order to be better prepared for the future. The infranet companies have been able to keep

The active support of a number of innovative technological initiatives also contributes to the pursuit of a more sustainable enterprise. Participation in the REDstack and Torrgas enterprises are examples of this. REDstack’s business model is the development and, in time, the marketing of Blue Energy – a method for generating energy from the mixing of freshwater and seawater. Torrgas is concerned with torrefaction – the creation of ‘biocoal’ from the pyrolysis of biomass. These biocoals have a much higher energy density than the original biomass. Torrgas has the technology to gassify torrefied biomass, creating syngas. This gas can serve as fuel.

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For 2013, A.Hakpark expects to return to the upward trend of recent years. The order books look healthy, both at home and abroad. A.Hak Leidingbouw recently began to lay a 60 kilometre section of the gas pipeline from Beverwijk to Wijngaarden for Gasunie. The construction of a new pipeline for the NAM, between the Norg underground gas storage and the transfer station in Sappemeer, has now also started. Across the border in Germany, a compressor station is being built and in Austria a 28" pipeline is being constructed. A.Hak International has won the third contract in a row in Iraq. After UNAOIL and Shell, the customer this time is the American company Weatherford. The Colombian success of A.Hak Drillcon has also led to more work in the same region. Mechanical Contracting Limburg will be supplying Gasunie with heat exchangers for gas receiver stations for at least five years. A.Hak Electron is taking part in a multi-million euro project in Estonia and Telecom is starting work on the Air Traffic Control at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. Finally, we can mention Conline Coatings, which has recorded five orders for concrete weight coating since September 2012. The project for coating 51.1 km of pipe for the Cygnus Field Development Project of GDF Suez E&P UK Ltd. is the largest of these five.

BUILDING AND RENOVATION PROJECTS IN TRICHT

Room for development

Renovation and extension of the existing office, new offices and canteens for the existing workshop, a 125 metre long underground car park, four large industrial units and a new headquarters for A.Hak Industrial Services. In short, that is the result of all the work begun at the Tricht location in 2011 which is now almost entirely completed. This major investment will give us the space to work comfortably, to keep innovating and to educate and train employees, customers and others. TEXT Richard van Santen PHOTOGRAPHY Maarten van der Voorde

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egarding the modifications to the Tricht location, the completion of the various new building projects in 2012 required the most attention. The construction of the underground car park and erection of a modern office building and four large industrial units drew a lot of attention from both employees and visitors. Besides this, the renovation and extension of the existing buildings is also looking good. Painting, new floor coverings and new office furniture gave the building a fresh new look and improved the working conditions. In addition, a number of new conference rooms and a fully refurbished entrance, central hall and atrium have paid off. The work is now almost finished and the finishing touches are being put on the appearance of the property.

New HIS offices

The most important changes were made for A.Hak Industrial Services (HIS). The old office area was no longer appropriate. Because of the growth of the company and the closure of its office in Aberdeen, Scotland, there was a need for more space. When the decision was made to build a new headquarters in Tricht, it was also decided to invest in a number of other things. Consequently, the new premises provide space for Research & Development labs where HIS works on the development of new tools and innovative working methods for the cleaning and inspection of pipelines. These findings can then be tested and perfected in an extensive test environment â&#x20AC;&#x201C; three pipe systems with diameters of 4, 6 and 12 inches. Test facilities

The facilities are well suited to performing a wide range of practical tests. They are also used for training. The first courses have since been successfully completed. And these are not only internal training courses. Employees of other companies, both within A. Hakpark and those outside the group, can also make use of the new facilities. A good example of this was a course on pigging (a technique that can be used for pipeline inspection, Ed.) , which was given in early December to employees of Shell, the NAM and A.Hak Industrie. The last two groups in particular are worth a closer look. HIS and A.Hak Industrie work together for the NAM on a long-term contract for, amongst other things, internal and external inspection of

The facilities at the welding centre can be used for a variety of activities. From training to the testing of procedures and programms.

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NAM’s pipelines. By providing both its contract partners with a training course, HIS has encouraged mutual collaboration. ‘As a result, the NAM, HIS and A.Hak Industrie can work even better as a team,’ says Niek Bruijnesteijn, pipeline inspection manager at HIS. Niek is enthusiastic about training customers. ‘Sharing knowledge has advantages for both parties. When we increase customers’ knowledge, we become better at consult-

‘ Practically every welding method can be qualified here’ ing with each other, allowing us to find better solutions quicker. A course like that is no one-way street. We also get to hear what is going on with the customer. In addition, we show that HIS continually invests in maintaining knowledge and in the improvement and development of technology. The new facilities give us the space to do this.’ Welding centre

Other highlights on the site include the four newly built large industrial units now in use by HIS and A.Hak Leidingbouw. A.Hak Leidingbouw can use this new space for maintaining its equipment and for metal construction activities. In addition, the Welding Technical Service (LTD) now has considerably more space for the A.Hak Leidingbouw welding centre. LTD employee Chris Snoeijs talks about the opportunities this provides. ‘Firstly, we are fully equipped to train and qualify welders. This means we can train less-experienced welders for a new welding process and extend the knowledge of those more experienced. For each welder, the welding competence certificate needs to be renewed every half year by an independent

certification body. If one of our people has not worked with a particular material or with a certain welding process in that time, he can fill in the missing welding tests in our welding centre so that his qualifications remain valid.’ Approved procedures

Welding pipelines is by no means something that can still only be done by manual process. ‘We weld with automated systems for which we write our own specific software’, explains Chris. ‘You enter the various welding parameters into the software, and then connect a laptop to the welding machine to upload it. The machine is then programmed and each weld is made according to the pre-set parameters. Before we use these welding programs on side, they first have to be tested. If this is satisfactory, we will have a number of welds inspected. If these results are acceptable, the test pieces go to the materials laboratory to see if the joints meets the customer’s specifications. Whenever we weld a new procedure, the parties concerned are invited to be present during the welding and to sign all the relevant welding documentation.’ No more ‘little welding school’

Chris Snoeijs is rightly proud of the enormously extended and improved welding centre. The above-mentioned automatic welding machines are new, as is a very modern smoke extraction system, two 15 tonne overhead travelling cranes, a column for submerged arc welding and five welding booths of 25 m2. ‘There is practically no welding method that can’t be qualified here’, says Chris. ‘When the LTD still consisted of a small shed with two welding booths, everyone spoke about ‘the little welding school’. It is typical for A.Hak that this term is still in use, but currently there is no way you can call this “little” anymore. I think that we now have the best-equipped welding centre in the Netherlands – something that will serve us for years to come.’ ‘In the future we will also make welding procedures for other A.Hakpark companies. At the same time, we’ll carry on with the development of automatic welding. There are new techniques under development that offer more stability and higher welding speeds. These are a must-have to secure our future competitiveness and to remain a reliable partner for our customers around the world.’

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‘Plaisier is fully incorporated’ COMBINATION CONTRACTS IN THE PROVINCE OF NOORD-HOLLAND

Plaisier BV from Middenmeer has achieved good results in its first year as part of the A.Hakpark family. This included the renewal, after tendering, of a contract for the combined laying and fitting of cables and pipelines for the gas, water and electricity supply in the north of the province of Noord-Holland. ‘The first year in the A.Hakpark family has suited us well’, says Anneriet Hoogland. She has worked for more than 17 years in the family firm and is taking over the day-to-day management from Annemiek Plaisier, who is gradually phasing out her tasks and responsibilities. ‘When Plaisier needs support, we can fall back on the expertise of the various A.Hakpark companies. At the same time, we have the freedom to organise the operational management as we require’, says Hoogland. ‘The working atmosphere at A.Hakpark is fine and Plaisier is now fully incorporated.’ All-round

This independent way of operating played an important role in 2012 in the acquisition of a contract for Combi-Infra Noord-Holland. This collaboration between energy, water, telecom and cable companies has worked together for more than 20 years to lay new cables and pipes. The aim is to minimise inconvenience to local authorities, project developers and contractors as much as possible and to integrate utility connections. Continuity

Together with A.Hak Infranet region West, Plaisier was in competition to secure a new contract with Combi-Infra Noord-Holland. This northernmost part of Noord-Holland is divided into three areas and contracts can not be awarded to a single contractor. ‘But because we operate independently and have built up a lot of experience over the past 20 years, the contract for part of the area has been awarded to us once again. ‘The other part went to A.Hak Infranet region West which means we are now well represented in the region’, says Hoogland. ‘Initially, it is a contract for a period of five years, but with the option to extend it by another three years. In this way, we are able to achieve important continuity in the coming years.’

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Achterhoek cooperation

‘Ziggo’s clients are our clients’

Motivated staff: our best asset

The village of Wehl in the Achterhoek – a region in the east of the Netherlands – has been part of the municipality of Doetinchem since municipal restructuring in 2005. Around that time, the municipality decided to build the A18 Business Park in Wehl. Various A.Hakpark companies have contributed to the development of this site.

In the last quarter of 2012, A.Hak Telecom has put considerable effort into acquiring a contract with Ziggo for the construction of centralised broadcasting and fibreoptic connections for the business market. A.Hak Telecom is now working hard for the provider, under an indefinite contract.

With the order book full and satisfactory results that were achieved in interesting projects, A.Hak Infranet region Western can look back on a successful 2012. According to the management, this is mainly because of the efforts and the positive approach of the staff.

In a strategic cooperation, the north-east of the Netherlands will receive newly constructed and supplementary connections. A.Hak Telecom will be carrying out this job in the two provinces of Overijssel and southern Drenthe. A different contractor usually constructs the cables and pipes in new construction projects, while Telecom deals with performing the connections from the working drawings onwards. Separate connections will be handled in full. After Ziggo gives the instructions, Telecom will set up the project, the work will be prepared and the in-house technical engineers will perform the connections. Telecom is also called upon for high-rise projects and when junction boxes need to be moved. They are able to handle the entire job, from engineering to connections.

On the beach of Scheveningen, ‘West’ has made preparations for laying a high-voltage cable as well as connecting illuminated advertising signboards in Amsterdam. A framework contract has been signed in southern Noord-Holland for a c ombined project of constructing gas, water, electricity, a centralised broadcasting system and telecommunications network.

According to project manager Arjan Ribberink, Ziggo’s main reason for choosing Telecom was that the company presented itself as a strategic partner who can help both the client and the end client. ‘Our motto was “Your client is our client” and they liked the sound of that. We always try to make processes more efficient. It goes way beyond just cost-cutting. Above all, we try to innovate in ways that let us make sure that Ziggo’s clients will be satisfied.’

According to its management A.Hak Infranet region West has achieved positive results mainly because of its well-motivated employees. The number of employees has doubled since 2009, thanks to staff transferring from various partner companies. All those cultures have now been blended to create a group of people who are prepared to assist the client and each other, day and night.

The development really took off when an agreement was signed with Esbro, a poultry slaughterhouse, regarding their relocation to the A18 Business Park. A.Hak Infranet region North-East, A.Hak Electron and A.Hak Drillcon constructed a triple power supply line for Esbro from Doetinchem to the business park. As the business park is situated in a rural area, not adequate utilities where present. Infranet, together with A.Hak Engineering, was therefore awarded a contract for the engineering of these utilities. Once the engineering had been completed, it was followed by the contract for the construction of the various routes. A railway crossing and several horizontal directional drilling jobs had to be carried out in order to construct the 2.5 km medium-voltage connection. Constructing the gas pipeline also meant crossing the railway line and a 1.5 km horizontal directional drilling was performed for this purpose. The cable route was laid by A.Hak Infranet region South and the gas route was laid by North-East. The utilities were constructed at the site itself at the same time as these so-called ‘supply routes’ were being built. The original job was followed by another assignment for laying an additional medium-voltage cable from Doetinchem to the new business park to increase operational reliability.

A.Hak Infranet region West also performed well in terms of corporate social responsibility. Its staff use electric scooters in Amsterdam and the company pays attention to ‘social return’, i.e. giving something back to society. For instance, people in Purmerend who are having difficulty finding jobs are being given the opportunity to reintegrate through a work-based learning contract.

Photography: Evert Ruis

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Soon, the centre of Drachten will once again be accessible by water. The filled-in Drachtstervaart canal is to reopen and will provide a boost for the local economy. Tjaden and A.Hak Infranet region North-East, make an essential contribution to the project. TEXT Adriaan van Hooijdonk PHOTOGRAPHY Maarten van der Voorde

he Drachtster Compagnonsvaart canal was filled-in during the 1960s because transport of goods by water had greatly declined. This meant that the centre of Drachten was no longer accessible by water. Like in many other cities, the town council has decided to bring the water back into the town. Various parties are involved in renovating the existing part of the canal and restoring the filled-in section in the centre of town. The work started in 2012 but is still in progress. There will be various bridges and viaducts, a promenade and a marina. This means

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that tourists holidaying on the Frisian lakes can tie-up their boats in the beautiful historic town of Drachten. Draining technologies

Various A.Hakpark companies have contributed – and are still contributing – to the project. One of these is Tjaden, which was approached by the main contractor, Van der Wiel Infra& Milieu of Drachten, because of its extensive knowledge of various draining technologies. Project leader Jaap Kievit of Tjaden explains why: ‘Calculations

provided by the Tauw advisory and engineering bureau had shown that houses near the filled-in canal could be damaged by subsidence. When you remove water from the ground, obviously, it starts to move. Clay-rich layers in particular can settle, leading to cracks in old buildings with steel foundations. Naturally that's something everyone wants to avoid.’ Managing the water level

To limit the risks, Tjaden uses a combination of vertical filter drainage and a horizontal drain-

Drachten regains its waterways A.HAK DRAINS, DRILLS, MOVES AND RENEWS

age system to manage the ground water level. ‘What’s more, in various places we’re going to return water into the ground to keep the water table at an acceptable level. This way we’re doing everything possible to prevent damage to the houses’, says Kievit. He expects that the work will be finished around the time of the annual construction workers’ holiday in 2013, after which the hydraulic engineering work can start. A.Hak Infranet, region North-East, is also making an important contribution to the project. Superintendent Jelke van Minnen: ‘We relocate and

renovate a large number of cables and pipelines, including those belonging to Liander, UPC, KPN, Ziggo and Tele 2. Besides this, A.Hak Drillcon performs horizontal directional drilling operations under the filled-in Drachtstervaart canal. This is a complicated job because there is little space available and we also have to drill in places where sheet-piling walls are to be built.’ Limiting nuisance

Van Minnen stressed that our people limit the nuisance as much as possible for people who

live nearby. ‘For example, by building bridge structures to ensure access to homes. And it goes without saying that the people nearby can continue to use TV, Internet and telephones while the works are in progress.’

In the picture Tjaden's geohydrologist Diete Kruize (left) and project manager Jaap Kievit with on the right Henk Ypma, supervisor at Van der Wiel Infra & Milieu.

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...WATER, COMMUNICATIons

CSR, corporate social responsibility (or ‘to operate in a careful and caring manner’ in the terminology of A.Hakpark) remained high on the agenda in the daily practice of 2012. To expand upon the broad concept of CSR and to continue providing policy impulses to operational management, the CSR Steering Committee was set up in late 2011.

CSR AND CHARITABLE CAUSES

Careful and caring A heater in the cabin keeps the driver warm, without having to keep the engine

he CSR Steering Committee is made up of board members from various A.Hakpark companies and is chaired by Mariska van Geenhuizen. The group deals with various issues that could be important for all companies. How do to find a meaningful and workable approach to sustainable procurement? Do we get enough results from the talks with our stakeholders? How can we continue to learn within the CSR field? On the initiative of the CSR Steering Committee, three working groups were set up at the start of 2012, each tasked with a specific subject that both the stakeholders and the companies think should be given the most attention at the moment. The first working group deals with energy consumption, the second with mobility and the third with sustainable employability: how can we ensure that employees remain healthy and productive throughout their careers. specific measures

Steps that can be made in the area of energy conservation include the installation of LED

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running.

fixtures and automatic temperature regulation in offices and workplaces. The new heating and cooling systems that Tjaden has installed at the Tricht location will certainly contribute to reducing gas consumption. In order to act with more awareness with regard to mobility, a number of measures have been set up – many of them involving only very simple modifications – that provide a more efficient use of time, money and fuel. These measures include driving with the right tyre pressure, using petrol stations we have made purchasing agreements with, using greener fuels and taking commuting distances into account when setting up project teams. The third working group has, amongst other things, worked on how to continue using the knowledge and skills of older employees in the future. Performance ladders

For our certification on the CSR and CO2 Performance Ladder, periodic audits were performed in the autumn of 2012 by the DNV certification body. This provided favourable results and a number

Drinking water and sanitation for Mozambique and Mongolia Since 2010, A.Hakpark has worked together with the Water for Life organisation, which is an initiative of Vitens Evides International (VEI). Water for Life is committed to clean drinking water and sanitation for everyone in the world. Last summer the collaboration was extended and A.Hakpark became a corporate sponsor. We also endeavoured to improve living conditions for the local population in Mongolia.

Since 2010, A.Hakpark has supplied manpower and materials free of charge to Water for Life projects. In the coming years we will continue this work mainly in Mozambique. To this end, an agreement has been signed committing us to a donation of € 300,000 for four successive years. Last summer Willem van Geenhuizen presented a cheque for 1.2 million Euros to Ed Nijpels, chair of Water for Life and Gerhard van den Top, director of VEI. Water pipes

of specific improvement points that the relevant companies have started on. The results of this have been positive, even though there are a few things that could be improved. Presentations and workshops

To clarify the CSR concept for employees and to keep the subject on the agenda, various presentations and workshops were given in 2012. It was good to see that this hasn’t been one-way traffic. There was a great deal of involvement in the subject from all levels of the organisation and all of the meetings generated ideas and suggestions for practical ways to improve on careful and caring working practices.

In 2012, some of A.Hakpark’s contribution went towards construction of water pipes in Bunhiça – a poor suburb of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. The project started at the end of September and, just before Christmas, the first glass of water poured from the tap. Since then, in accordance with planning, 9 kilometres of pipeline has been laid, toilets have been built and the residents of Bunhiça have received training in hygiene and sanitation. Dairy cattle in Mongolia

Improving the drinking water supply was also the initial approach chosen for aid to Mongolia. On the edge of the capital city of Ulaan Baatar live some 700,000 people in yurts or gers – the traditional round felt tents originally used by nomads. The ‘ger district’, as it is called, has no water mains and no sewers. The area also suffers from food shortages, and products such as milk have to be imported. To tackle this, research is now being done into a more permanent improvement of living conditions. A.Hakpark is sponsoring the universities of Wageningen and Ulaan Baatar to set up a business plan for dairy farming in the area. When this is shown to be economically feasible, local organisations, including the Mongolian government, will take over the initiative and A.Hakpark’s contribution will be phased out.

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GASUNIE CONTINUES TO BE AN IMPORTANT CUSTOMER

A wider and more efficient partnership

Crossing the river Meuse with the direct pipe technique

Anyone who wants to lay a pipeline between Odiliapeel and Melick will meet the river Meuse at the historic town of Kessel. A.Hak Drillcon advised Gasunie to undercross the river using the direct pipe drilling method. ‘Because the subsoil in this area contains large amounts of gravel, conventional drilling methods were not suitable’ says Raymond Bos, project manager at Drillcon. With the direct pipe technique, however, it worked fine. ‘Because of the limited space available for setting up the gas pipe, it had to be drilled in two lengths; first 700 metres and then the remaining 300 metres. The connection was made by A.Hak Leidingbouw using a “golden weld”’.

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In 2012 the A.Hakpark companies once more carried out a large number of projects for Gasunie. This included the construction of 28 kilometres of pipeline in South Limburg for the final part of the North-South Route and renovating the first gas receiver stations in other parts of the country. A number of innovative framework agreements ensure that A.Hakpark and Gasunie can cooperate with each other more efficiently. TEXT Adriaan van Hooijdonk PHOTOGRAPHY Gasunie/Harry Pelgrim

ince 2008, Gasunie has invested heavily in the extension of the gas transportation network in the Netherlands. The A.Hakpark companies were involved from the start of this multi-million euro project in a large number of activities. Even before this, A.Hakpark had, through various companies, played an important role in our country’s energy supply. In the spring of 2012, preparations were started for the construction of the final part of the North-South Route. Working at high pace, about 28 kilometres of pipeline was constructed on the Odiliapeel-Melick section. ‘Sometimes easily 1,300 to 1,400 metres per day,’ says project manager Jan Verhoeven. South Limburg’s hilly terrain made this a technically challenging job that needed all the expertise that has been built up over the years.

Drainage

What’s more, sometimes as much as 4,000 cubic metres of water per hour had to be extracted in order to lay the pipes. ‘That’s why we installed various pipes and pumps to transport the water up to six kilometres from the construction site. Because of the high pace at which we laid the pipelines, we also had to be able to dispose of the water quickly. And because this involved enormous quantities, we couldn’t just dispose of this water into a ditch. In addition to vertical drainage pipes we also used various other drainage technologies, such as horizontal drains and deep wells to get the job done’, says Verhoeven. Flora and fauna

The rich flora and fauna of the area was also taken into account while laying the pipes. ‘During the project we all became aware that there's really

In the province of Limburg, work is underway between Odiliapeel and Melick for laying the final section of the North-South Route.

a large diversity of special plants and animals in the Netherlands. Some parts of the section cross Natura-2000 areas or form part of the ecological main structure. It goes without saying that, just as with other projects, we have taken the right measures to take the biodiversity into account’, explains Verhoeven. To this end, some 16 kilometres of amphibian screen was installed. The screens were there to prevent rare salamanders, toads, frogs and other animals from getting into the construction areas. In addition, the mating season of the many badgers in the region was taken into account. Work was stopped for the period during which the young badgers were born. The need for trees to be felled for part of the route was carefully examined in close consultation with organisations such as the national forestry authority Staatsbosbeheer. ‘There were already other plans for large parts of the felled woodland, but we deliberately left many tree stumps behind on the pipeline route to provide new habitat for flora and fauna’, said the project manager. Robust protocols

It is furthermore remarkable that despite the pressure of work there was no significant damage to existing cables and pipes. This was because the A.Hakpark companies have robust protocols for preventing such damages as far as possible. Verhoeven: ‘We had already made accurate maps of the underground infrastructure during the preparation. These were essential, because since the introduction of the Act on Information Exchange for Underground Networks (WION) the rules for excavations have become much stricter. It requires every excavation deeper than 40 cm to be reported to the land registry. The request enters a fully-automated system so that all concerned parties are well informed.’ Before any wheel loader or excavator bucket goes into the ground the A.Hakpark employees receive the information they need about the underground infrastructure’, emphasised the project manager. ‘To make sure of this, we require excavator

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gas

operators to sign that they have seen and understood the information’, says Verhoeven. The project manager further points out that the last section of the North-South Route was handed over to the client on time, within budget and with no accidents. Gas receiving stations

H.J. Mertens – part of A.Hak Industrie – was able to acquire an interesting framework contract with Gasunie in 2012. This was the result of a European tendering procedure, in which H.J. Mertens along with another party was selected by Gasunie to submit a tender, to renovate about 1,100 gas

Gasunie builds on, together with A.Hakpark receiver stations over the next ten to fifteen years. These are the stations that ensure that the pressure of the natural gas from the Gasunie’s national gas transport network is reduced to that required for the regional or local gas network. Peter van der Ploeg, business unit manager of H.J Mertens and also manager of A.Hak Industrie Botlek, says that the contract was formally signed under the name of A.Hak Leidingbouw for a period of three years. ‘H.J Mertens, however, performs the work on the gas receiver stations. This involves, for instance, replacing aging or obsolete equipment. A.Hak Industrie is again responsible for modifications to the underground pipeline system. Another good example of the collaboration between the various companies in the group.’

only need to make a project-specific appendix. Naturally this saves a lot of time and money’, says Van der Ploeg. Mechanical Contracting Limburg (MCL) – also part of A.Hak Industrie – also contributes to the work on the gas receiver stations. Following a European tendering process, MCL and two other parties were selected in 2012 to supply a large number of new heat exchangers over the coming years. These important components are found in the measuring and regulating lines of a gas receiving station. ‘This form of tendering was completely new for MCL. Working with the whole team, we have put a great deal of time and energy into winning the contract. With success, as since 2012 we have had a five-year contract, which Gasunie can extend by two years’, says Rob Feij of MCL. Detail engineering

MCL employees first made a thermal design based on the Gasunie specifications. The detail engineering was then performed in-house. With this, MCL had to take into account, among other things, the installation dimensions of the heat exchangers in the gas receiver stations. Feij: ‘A complex puzzle as Gasunie has not provided a design. Naturally we know from the specifications what such a piece of equipment looks like and which functions it needs to have.’ The dimensions vary from six inches (17 cm) to 24 inches (60 cm). MCL usually builds larger heat exchangers, but the advantage of this job is that it involves large quantities. Over the coming years, Gasunie will renovate hundreds of gas receiver stations. And there are at least two to three heat exchangers in each station. MCL is now busy with the production of 18 units that need to be delivered to Gasunie by the end of May.

Heat exchangers

One of the major advantages of the framework agreement is that standardised working plans will become available for each job. ‘Subsequently, we

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Experienced staff and robust protocols prevent damage to existing cables and pipelines.

An innovative form of collaboration

‘By signing two framework agreements, the submission of a tender and the preparation work are now able to proceed a good deal faster’, states Paul Langbroek, head of the planning and control department at A.Hak Leidingbouw. ‘Within the Raamovereenkomst Aannemers Pijpleidingen (Pipeline Contractors Framework Agreement) Gasunie grants all contracts for between 150,000 and ten million euros to six prequalified companies. All of these companies receive an invitation to submit a tender’, says Langbroek. ‘We only need to make a project-specific appendix. For instance, we have written a welding plan in accordance with Gasunie procedures. In the appendix we indicate which investigative and welding methods we plan to use in a particular project.’ Advantages

Gasunie and A.Hak Leidingbouw both benefit from this simplified form of tendering. Langbroek: ‘Because Gasunie receives comparable tenders it can shorten the tendering process. Moreover, we come together every quarter to make an evaluation. During these meetings we discuss, for example, which equipment we have invested in. Gasunie also asks our opinion on their procedures. What could be better, faster and smarter?’ Dismantling

The Ontmanteling Vervallen Leidingen (Dismantling of Disused Pipelines) framework contract is also new. This was signed with five companies and is aimed at removing disused pipelines as cheaply and efficiently as possible. ‘We assist in finding alternatives. Sometimes old pipelines can be given a new purpose. For examples, for using them as conduits for fibre-optic cables.’ In addition, A.Hak Leidingbouw has examined other methods for clearing away old pipelines. ‘By excavating two holes in the ground and attaching a winch, you can simply pull the pipe out of the ground with a machine. In this way, there is no need to fully excavate a disused pipeline. When, for example, a paved surface is installed above it, there is no need to restore it. This can lead to considerable cost savings’.

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Water across the wadi In 2012, A.Hak International and the Saudi Arabian company Al-Rashid extended their successful collaboration under a new name: Rashid-Hak Saudi Company (LLC). Together they steadily continued their work on a project of giant proportions – the improvement of the drinking water supply for the capital city of Saudi Arabia. The capital city of Saudi Arabia – the former desert village of Riyadh – has grown during the previous decades to become a bustling metropolis. The profits from the enormous oil and gas reserves have provided the people with rising incomes. It is the northern part of the city, in particular, that has profited from this, while the development of the south side has lagged behind. In total, about 60 percent of the population is connected to the existing water supply. Water is, however, still a scarce commodity. This does not only apply to the remaining 40 percent of the population. Even those who are connected can sometimes only receive water from the tap for a few days in the week. Technical know-how

A.Hak International has been working for years in Saudi Arabia to contribute to an improvement in the situation. In

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2012, A.Hak International and its Saudi partner Al-Rashid decided to continue their collaboration in a new enterprise, namely the Rashid-Hak Saudi Company (LLC). Al Rashid is mainly concerned with marketing as Saudis are better placed to do business with Saudis. A.Hak International, on the other hand, brings in the experience and technical know-how needed to lay oil, gas, water and sewage pipes under often difficult conditions. These conditions are illustrated in the photos on this page: the construction of a pipeline in a wadi. Wadi is an Arabic word for a seasonal river and is used to indicate a mostly dry riverbed that has been worn out of the bedrock by the action of water over time. Every so many years, under heavy rainfall, water collects in the wadi, which can lead to dangerous flash floods. Uphill one pipe at a time

As can be seen in the photos, wadis can be very deep. In the rock wall – the riverbank so to speak – a service road and a trench for the pipe have been excavated. The pipeline is then laid one pipe at a time in the ‘upriver’ direction using sidebooms. When finished, the pipeline to Riyadh will be 400 km long. At the end of last year, 300 km had already been built.

we The employees of A.Hakpark, through the photographer’s lens. With lots of pictures that tell the story.

contents 24 Production & construction A.Hakpark’s work is often carried out as projects. In addition, however, production and construction work is delivered from our own facilities throughout the Netherlands.

Our human capital

26 Facts and figures Key figures about the staffing and organisation for 2012. From age distribution to the number of permanently employed staff.

28 Shapes and sizes A.Hakpark constructs cables and pipelines in all shapes and sizes.

30 Sparks Pictures with a spark - literally.

The number of staff employed at A.Hakpark has grown to 2,217 in 2012. These people all contribute to the success of our company, from within their specific companies and their own functions, wherever they are in the world. They therefore deserve a place of honour in the heart of this annual review. A.Hakpark once again made major investments in equipment, buildings and facilities in 2012. This annual review gives some examples of those investments. However, motivated people remain the most important capital of any company. And this certainly applies to a family company such as ours, where it is not about positions or titles, but about the contribution to the team and the final result. We are proud of our people and our people are proud of their work. Even though real ‘Hakkers’ aren’t always willing to show that. The photographer who took the pictures of the people on the next pages noticed it over and over again. At first, the employees responded to his camera cautiously, but once they became used to the flashlight, they showed how much they enjoy what they do.

a.hakpark

and its people

Production & construction A.Hakpark has a variety of production and construction companies scattered throughout the country. Kaal Masten in Oss, for example, is the biggest manufacturer of high-quality masts for lighting etc. in the Netherlands. Conline-Rhenania has production locations in Maassluis, Dordrecht and Nijmegen for coating and lining tubes in all kinds of dimensions and materials. In Born (Limburg), Mechanical Contracting Limburg (MCL) designs and produces equipment and production systems. A.Hakpark is also very well-equipped for carrying out maintenance work and making modifications to equipment. Several of its companies have their own equipment services. The left-hand page shows staff of Rhenania in Nijmegen. On the righthand page, clockwise from the top left, are staff from MCL Equipment Services in Veendam, and two of Kaal Masten.

The people of a.hakpark

Spread throughout the whole country

a.hakpark

and its people

HUMAN RESOURCES 26

FACTS AND FIGURES

AGE DISTRIBUTION OF EMPLOYEES

These pages hold an overview of a number of facts and figures relating to human resources. The average A.Hakpark employee is 45 years old. That employee loyalty is still strong can be seen from the fact that this year once more saw a large number of anniversaries. Absence through illness remains stable at 4%. The number of employees has grown mainly because of the takeover of Plaisier and the inflow of employees from Nacap in Reinhard Rohrbau and other A.Hakpark companies.

16 to 20

21 to 25

1,2% 5,8%

26 to 30

31 to 35

36 to40

8,6%

9,2%

10,3%

staff mutations

178 LEFT THE FIRM

2012 330 JOINED THE FIRM

PERMANENT EMPLOYEES

LARGE AND SMALL

With

2500

2065

2000

1500

1515

2217 A.Hak Infranet is the largest company within A.Hakpark

1688 1708

With

1000

500

The people of a.hakpark

H.J. Mertens is the smallest company within A.Hakpark

41 to 45

46 to 50

51 to 55

56 to 60

61 to 65

66 +

15,4%

14,0%

14,1%

12,3%

7,6%

1,5%

BRANCHES IN 2012

In 2012, A.Hakpark had offices in 18 countries, spread over all of the inhabited continents with the exception of Australia. Nigeria has since been added to this list and the opportunities in Russia and Chile are being explored.

ANNIVERSARIES

HISTORIC OVERVIEW OF ABSENCE THROUG ILLNESS

People who start to work at A.Hakpark often stay with us for a long time. On 16 November, 32 colleagues who celebrated a notable anniversary were honoured.

8% 7% 6%

1 colleague

50 YEARS

2 colleagues

40 YEARS

29 colleagues

5% 4% 3%

YEARS

2% 1%

98 19

99 19

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10 20

11 20

and its people

12 20

All sizes and materials The A.Hakpark companies are familiar with all kinds of cables and pipes for transporting electricity, data, gas, oil, water and other liquids.

From fibre-optic cables to gas transport pipelines

The people of a.hakpark

a.hakpark

and its people

Sparks Grinding, welding and cutting - until the sparks fly. At A.Hak Leidingbouw, Kaal Masten and at the Welding Department (clockwise from the bottom left).

Until the sparks fly!

The people of a.hakpark

A.HAK ELECTRON

Above and below ground A.Hak Electron is specialised in both above ground and underground high voltage lines. Both specialisms could often be seen in action in 2012. A selection from a number of interesting projects.

PYLON FOR the CITY TRAMway

CANAL RE-ROUTED, NEW PYLONS

To improve public transport, the city of Groningen introduced a regional tramway system. This required the construction of a new pylon at Kardingerplein. Because of the limited space available at the Kardinge bus station, it was decided in consultation with the provincial government, the city council and the transport company that part of the bus station would be closed off for use as a construction site. The work was tightly planned and implemented to minimise inconvenience in the area.

To make the Zuid-Willemsvaart canal in the province of Noord-Brabant suitable for larger boats, it had to be partly re-routed. This required the replacement of three high-voltage pylons in the city of Den Bosch. The work, which was put on to the market in two lots, was entirely awarded to A.Hak Electron. This also involved constructing three new pylons, including foundations, power cables and earth wires.

THE OLDEST HIGH VOLTAGE LINE

The oldest high voltage line in the Netherlands can be found in the province of Limburg, running between Lutterade, Born and Maasbracht. Five of the pylons no longer met modern needs and needed to be replaced, including their foundations, power cables and earth wires. During the works, one high voltage circuit had to remain in operation at all times to ensure continuity of the power supply to the region. To achieve this, A.Hak Electron used a 55 tonne crane. One circuit was then kept suspended and insulated by the crane, which acted as a temporary transmission tower. SPECIAL WINDING machines

Between late 2011 and the first months of 2012 an underground connection was made in the Meuse valley from the new E.ON power station to the TenneT grid. Electron laid six 950 metre cables of 15 centimetre diameter. This required the development of new winding machines. Synchronised cable pulling machines then transported the cables to their final destination.

Greetings from Estonia,

GREETINGS FROM ESTONIA

with, from left to right:

2013 has also brought with it a number of interesting projects. While in the Netherlands the winter in March showed little sign of making way for spring, a team from A.Hak Electron had to deal with even lower temperatures. They were assisting with the enormous Estlink2 project in Estonia, in which a 650 MW link is being created between Finland and Estonia. This line will be 171 km long, with 145 km running under the Gulf of Finland, 12 km of underground cable in Estonia and 14 km of aboveground high-voltage lines in Finland. More information about the role of A.Hak Electron in the next issue of this magazine.

Erwin Horak, Jan Taling, Tom Molleman, Cees Taling and Klaas Zeeman.

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ELEcTRICITy

A SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT BY KAAL MASTEN

Argusmast monitors the Sand Engine

TEXT Richard van Santen PHOTOGRAPHY Joop van Houdt/Jurriaan Brobbel (inset)

In the Netherlands, the eternal struggle against the water is never far away. We keep a careful watch on our dykes and follow the erosion of our dunes and beaches closely. Or, in the case of the Delfland coast, by using the Argusmast â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a special product from Kaal Masten that contributes to the monitoring of an equally remarkable project: the Sand Engine.

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he Sand Engine (Zandmotor) is an innovative form of coastal defence and maintenance that involves giving nature a helping hand. Off the coast between Ter Heijde and Kijkduin dredgers have laid down 21.5 million cubic metres of sand to create a 128 hectare peninsula. Over the next twenty years, wind, waves and currents will distribute the sand along the coast between Hook of Holland and Scheveningen. There it will form new beach and dunes to protect us against rising sea levels while providing more space for recreation and wildlife habitat.

film how the Sand Engine changes. These pictures are placed next to each other and compared so that the development of the Sand Engine and the neighbouring sandbanks can be visualised and interpreted. The camera images are solely for scientific use – people visiting the beach cannot be recognised in the pictures.

Peninsula

Between March 2011 and October 2011, the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management and the province of Zuid Holland worked to create a hook-shaped peninsula. It stretches out into the sea for a kilometre and is two kilometres wide at the beach. Hopper dredgers sucked up the sand ten kilometres out to sea and brought it to where it was needed. Next to the peninsula there are two sandbanks under the water. The Sand Engine activities were completed in November 2011. In order to monitor whether the Sand Engine works according to plan, cameras were installed 40 metres up a mast: the Argusmast. This name is derived from the giant Argus from Greek mythology, who had a hundred eyes spread over his body, of which no more than two slept at any one time. Rigidity The Argusmast

The Argusmast was entirely manufactured at the Kaal Masten factory in Oss. The construction is built up from various parts, starting with a 20-metre foundation tube driven 14 metres into the sand using high frequency vibration. On top of this is a coupling tube of five metres that contains the machine room – a drum-shaped structure that contains the apparatus and power supply. On top of the coupling tube there is a lattice mast with a lighting armature that can be raised or lowered. Cameras attached to this armature continuously

Kaal Masten’s customer for this project was Van Oord-Boskalis – the contractor group responsible for creating the peninsula. Kaal started the job on 1 October and was able to deliver the mast in early November. A special characteristic of the mast is the great rigidity needed to enable the cameras to take the right pictures. Even a small movement of the mast leads to a large deflection at the top. You can compare this to a pair of binoculars. If you don’t keep them still, it is almost impossible to keep a distant object in view. The Kaal mast ensures that each camera covers a fixed area.

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Investing in safety and quality Our organisation is developing every day. We acquire contracts from existing and new customers, extend our range of services and decide to work with innovative technologies, which we partly develop ourselves. These dynamics also keep demands for quality, safety and environmental protection in constant motion, demands we set for ourselves and demands – often in the form of mandatory certificates – from our business environment. To keep a grip on these changes, we give continuous attention to employee training. For existing personnel this takes the form of in-service training. When new employees arrive, it is of the utmost importance that right from the start of their employment they are properly informed about the relevant processes, methods and techniques and the potential dangers to which they are exposed in their working environment. Every investment in education contributes to preventing incidents and avoiding the costs of failure. Sustainable development

A.Hakpark is active in many different ways in the field of working conditions For example, we provide information on dealing with hazardous substances and there are specific safety programmes required either by our own safety

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requirements or by specific customer requirements. In addition, we hold evacuation drills. A completely different subject are the courses in which managers learn how their leadership style affects the behaviour and behavioural changes of the teams that they supervise. ‘Outstanding contribution’

The fruits of our efforts can be seen from a number of good examples in 2012. In March, the employees of A.Hak International in Iraq were presented with a Certificate of Commendation by South Oil Company Iraq. In the official document, A.Hak International was praised for its ‘outstanding contribution’ to the safety structure within the Iraq Crude Oil Export Expansion Project. The introduction of an effective Safety, Health and Environmental Risk Programme for the work in Iraq played a major role in this. 1,000,000 hours

At the end of April, the joint venture Landelijke Onshore Projecten (National Onshore Projects, LOP) reached a special milestone: 1,000,000 hours had been worked without a loss-of-time incident (LTI). LOP was NAM’s permanent partner for optimising virtually all onshore oil and gas fields in the Netherlands and was thereby the forerunner of aQuaintance.

A.Hak Drillcon keeps reappearing in this annual review as chief purveyor to A.Hakpark for all kinds of drilling, both in the Netherlands and abroad. Not that this company from Helmond hasn’t been called in by other parties. With the arrival of twenty former employees from Nacap HDD, Drillcon’s reputation has only risen further. A team of these new colleagues has been working in Columbia since last June carrying out drillings that other companies had found too demanding.

‘We can do the job’ SUCCESSFUL DRILLING OPERATIONS IN COLUMBIA

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Oil & GAS

TEXT Richard van Santen PHOTOGRAPHY Venguideche Vilvanadana (Venki)

ytse Faber is an former ‘Nacapper’. He has been involved in four drilling operations in Columbia. The first one took place under the Nacap name, A.Hak Drillcon was responsible for the following three. Faber’s role is that of ‘off site project manager’. He has been to Columbia a number of times but organises the contacts with the client’s management from the Netherlands. This meant that he was easy to contact for information about the projects. He emphasises, however, that it is the people on site that do the lion’s share of the work. ‘Our team in Colombia, under the leadership of supervisor Wim Mulder, works very independently’, says Faber. Three of these four drilling operations are part of the construction of the longest oil pipeline in Colombia, the Bicentennial Pipeline. When completed, this pipeline, with a diameter of 36" to 42" will be 960 kilometres long and connect Araguaney with the Caribbean harbour of Coveñas. The Italian contractor SICIM, responsible for laying the pipeline, signed a contract in February 2012 with Nacap HDD for the first 1,650 metre long horizontal directional drilling operation, under the Rio Casanara. This was the starting signal for a big logistical operation.

Logistical operation

‘Our equipment was brought to Columbia by SICIM’s shipping agent’, says Sytse. ‘You have a consultation first and get some instructions about the preparations. Then the big inventory work starts. All the material has to go on a list. Everything has to be weighed and described, right down to the last hammer. That keeps five men busy for four or five weeks. Then everything is put

The drilling site at the crossing of the Rio Tame.

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on a boat in Antwerp and imported into Colombia by SICIM.’ The first drilling was carried out in June and July. After the handover, it was the end of the line for Nacap. On 1 August, A.Hakpark took over part of the equipment. In addition, Nacap employees were invited to join A.Hakpark. The drilling group in Columbia took up the invitation and from then on was working for A.Hak Drillcon. SICIM deside to stay with Drillcon for the following series of drilling operations: in October and November the Rio Tame was crossed (1,600 m), followed in December and January by the Rio Banadia – a drilling of 800 meters.

through it’, says Faber with justifiable pride. The fact that our team is succeeding has to do with a number of A.Hak Drillcon’s strengths that were shared by the former Nacap HDD. ‘We have better equipment at our disposal, suitable for the type of soil. What’s more, we’re more serious with the use of bentonite and simply have more experience. But the most important point is the condition of our equipment. We maintain it better and have more spares than the competition. We also have a larger number of different options at our disposal, for example when it comes to choosing the correct reamer.’

Follow-up contracts

In the meantime these qualities have also become known to the Italian contractor and to some Columbian parties. In February and March, a 1,350 metre drilling under the Rio San Jorge for a 24" pipeline was carried out for a local customer. The next drilling for the Bicentennial Pipeline will be the crossing of the Rio Tigre. This will involve a 1,500 metre drilling operation. For the longer term, A.Hak Drillcon anticipates closer collaboration with SICIM, both in Columbia and – possibly – in other parts of the world. The strategy also aims at winning contracts from other South American customers.

Challenging work

A workplace in Colombia may not sound like music to everyone’s ears. The country has a somewhat poor image in the news because of violence. ‘SICIM takes that into account quite thoroughly’, says Faber. ‘There is an extensive security plan and there is always military security at the worksite. I also had a bodyguard with me for my first visit to the site. That takes a bit of getting used to, but the clearly present security works well. Our people keep to the rules. They have good contacts with the local population and don’t perceive the situation where they are as threatening. They concentrate primarily on the interesting and challenging work.’

‘ Equipment and experience deliver the breakthrough’ Strongpoints

The term ‘challenging’ is not used loosely here as can be seen from the fact that two other drilling companies have since left Columbia. ‘It’s pretty difficult soil with coarse sand and many stones, which is why they didn’t succeed. But we do get

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Oil & GAS

Sustainable heating and cooling INNOVATIVE TES SOLUTIONS

Two schools and a sports complex in the municipality of Lisse will save a lot on their energy bill from April 2013 onwards. Tjaden is setting up an innovative open thermal energy storage (TES) system that will ensure sustainable heating and cooling in all seasons. TEXT Adriaan van Hooijdonk PHOTOGRAPHY Maarten van der Voorde

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‘T

he setup of this TES system is totally new in this country,’ says Ruud Dorlandt, final installations manager of Tjaden. ‘It’s because we’re using just one pair of wells that lets us supply cooling and heating at the same time. In summer, the system pumps water from the cold to the hot source, which cools down the buildings. And exactly the opposite happens in winter.’ The innovative TES system also ensures that the swimming pool at the future sports complex will be sufficiently heated in summer and in winter. In turn, the server area in one of the schools can always count on sufficient cooling. The classrooms of the schools and other rooms at the sports complex can also meet their own cooling and heating requirements this way. It is also possible that between 100 and 120 new houses will be using the system in the near future. Using this technology not only saves natural gas but also achieves a reduction in CO2 emissions.

‘Tricht’ shows off its systems

Having a TES specialist among its members, A.Hakpark naturally chose this type of sustainable heating and cooling for the renovation and new construction at the Tricht location. The gas consumption figures in the existing and new buildings at the site will clearly show this in the near future. The construction of an open TES system combined with a heat pump will ensure sustainable cooling and heating in all seasons. A transparent dome lets those who are interested have a look at this innovative technology. Tjaden designed and built this system and A.Hak Drillcon was responsible for the horizontal directional drilling work for the pipeline. ‘A challenging job, because we are in the middle of a dyke zone,’ explains Ruud Dorlandt. ‘That’s why the water board wanted us to place a clay casket in the soil to prevent any damage to the dykes.’ Besides the two heat and cold sources, Tjaden also constructed several firefighting pits. ‘In the event of an emergency the fire brigade will quickly have sufficient fire extinguishing water. After all, safety comes first,’ says Dorlandt.

‘ This is the first system of its kind in our country’ Close cooperation

Dorlandt emphasises that the project requires close cooperation between the various contractors involved in constructing the buildings, as well as the various A.Hakpark companies. ‘The pipes are more than 600 metres long and the route runs through two building sites, several streets, roads and other public areas. We have worked out this infrastructural puzzle inhouse, together with our colleagues from A. Hak Engineering. When laying the pipes, we will also allow for the construction of the future sports complex.’ The quality of the soil also requires complex calculations to

make sure the pipes will be future-proof. ‘After all, the subsoil is continuously moving. If you lay down a metre of sand, it’ll be gone in a few years. You have to take that into account in the engineering,’ says Dorlandt. Leading company

Besides Tjaden and A.Hak Engineering, other A.Hakpark companies are playing a role in the project. A.Hak Leidingbouw is responsible for the stainless steel welding and A.Hak Electron is laying the various cables. The only external supplier used was called in for the measurement and control technology. Imtech, a provider of technical services, is the commercial party who will be awarded a final contract at the end of April to operate the system for a period of 15 years. During this period, Tjaden will be responsible for the maintenance and management of the wells. Tjaden has now developed into one of the best-known TES specialists in the country. The company was one of the pioneers of this sustainable form of energy: it set up its first systems twenty years ago.

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renewable ENERGy

innovation by A.Hak Telecom and Kaal Masten

Wireless and intelligent

COMMUNICATIons a.hakpark magazine

In 2012, A.Hak Telecom and Kaal Masten have developed several innovative concepts that are now going to be marketed. From multifunctional masts equipped with a variety of elements such as cameras, LED lighting and interactive displays to satellite internet systems that will also secure industrial premises at remote locations. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The first projects with these concepts have now been started,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; says Raymond Buitenhuis of A.Hak Telecom, who is responsible for service and product innovations.

Satellite Internet systems

TEXT Adriaan van Hooijdonk

he new security concept BeWare is one of the projects that A.Hak Telecom has been involved in for more than eighteen months now. The concept combines various advanced techniques including intelligent cameras, data mining and 3D virtualisation. BeWare is capable of analysing and combining data from alarm panels, alarm systems, intruder detection systems and fencing, security cameras, publicly available sources and even police records at dizzying speeds. ‘A.Hak Telecom also ensures that all parts of the system can communicate with each other,’ explains Buitenhuis, ‘for example by installing wireless devices for the cameras and alarm stations. Or by laying a wireless or fibre-optic network.’

concept that combines intelligent video management with a camera that can cover a 360-degree area. Buitenhuis adds, ‘It’s a big advantage, because some cameras just cannot show everything that is happening. One example is the images of a number of recent attacks in areas where people go out at night. The images do not tell the whole story. That is why the police are very interested in a system that can show you everything. At the same time, it’s almost impossible to get people to review all the recordings a camera makes,’ says the service and product innovation manager. ‘London currently has as many cameras as residents. Hiring staff to analyse all the images is much too expensive. In addition, humans are not infallible and may overlook important things.’

Innovative camera systems

Intelligent video management system

A.Hak Telecom and Kaal Masten developed an innovative camera system in 2012, together with their partner DySI. All-in-View is a revolutionary

That is why A.Hak Telecom is working in close operation with its partner DySI, which specialises in developing software for receiving and processing enormous data flows. DySI has also developed an intelligent video management system that is able to warn staff in control rooms if anything unusual happens in the area covered by a camera. ‘That might be a car driving round and round at a company premises. Or people who are behaving suspiciously,’ says Buitenhuis. According to him. the first systems will be put on the market in April 2013. They are the result of the joint efforts of the partners in 2012. Multifunctional masts

Another important innovation is the development of multifunctional masts equipped with various items such as cameras, LED lighting and interactive displays. The masts produced by Kaal improve the perspectives available. Interactive displays provide real-time information for drivers via the town council’s computers. And advanced cameras let emergency services keep an eye on the road continuously and take measures, if necessary.

Satellite Internet systems are now also part of the innovative portfolio of A.Hak Telecom. These systems are independent of local and national infrastructures and provide high-speed links in remote areas. Very interesting for companies and other institutions if their normal internet connection should fail for any reason. ‘It’s also an attractive solution for the security of remote industrial premises. Think of the increasing number of thefts of valuable materials from industrial premises. Companies can reduce crime by combining the innovative camera concepts of the Kaal masts with a satellite Internet connection. That is why there is increasing interest for these solutions, even during the current economic crisis. The first projects have now been started,’ says Buitenhuis.

Wireless Internet

A.Hak Telecom is also playing an increasingly important role in setting up wireless Internet connections. Smartphones and tablets are commonplace in the streets now and a lot of municipalities or companies offer Wi-Fi hotspots. ‘A.Hak Telecom is not only responsible for the engineering, but also for the installation, service and management of these systems,’ says Buitenhuis. He points out that separate networks are often used in practice for a variety of applications, such as Wi-Fi and security systems. ‘However, combining all those elements with each other and setting up one single network allows clients to save a lot of money. More and more parties are starting to see the value of this business case and preferring to benefit from the advantages of using a single network for various purposes.’

a.hakpark magazine

COMMUNICATIons

DEADLINE MET AT BERGERMEER

Gas storage project on schedule

PHOTOGRAPHY Maarten van der Voorde

TAQA Energy and its partner Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN) are having the largest underground gas storage system in western Europe constructed in Bergermeer. Excess gas can be stored underground in summer, when the demand for gas is low. This will ensure that sufficient gas will be available and that price fluctuations will be stabilised when there is greater demand in winter. The work, which began in 2012, had an important deadline in March because of the bird breeding season in the area. A.Hak Leidingbouw can announce that this deadline has been met. A.Hakpark was involved in the project with several of its companies. A.Hak Drillcon has carried out various drilling jobs. A.Hak Leidingbouw is, amongst other things, responsible for constructing eight new transport pipelines to and

GAS a.hakpark magazine

from the gas storage system, with a total length of 37.5 km. A.Hak Infranet region West assisted with the insulation work on the pipes, A.Hak Telecom was responsible for laying fibre-optic connections and Tjaden showed their expertise by playing a supporting role in re-injecting the groundwater that collects from various drainage activities during the construction work. VERY SUCCESSFUL

One reason TAQA chose A.Hak was because of the extensive experience of A.Hak Drillcon in complex drilling work. The route required drilling work underneath railways, dams and polders. A.Hak Leidingbouw also made a good impression because of its experience with a wide range of pipelines. Super-duplex pipes are among those used for this project. These pipes, made of a very strong and durable type of steel, are well-suited for discharging the residue released when pumping up the natural gas that the field still contains. In

addition to technical expertise, A.Hakpark’s plan of action and quotation were competitive too. BREEDING SEASON

The challenge in planning this project was highly influenced by nature. ‘This part of the route had to be completed by no later than 15 March, because it’s located in an area where lots of birds breed’, says Gert Bonder, project manager at A.Hak Leidingbouw. ‘That deadline was met, but it also means that we can’t start the clean-up until mid July, when the breeding season will have ended. In the meantime, pipes can be laid at various locations and A.Hak Telecom will install and connect its glass fibre optic cables by mid July.’ A.Hak Leidingbouw was awarded two more contracts. Two station piping locations will be constructed in Westertocht and Egmondermeer for Gasunie. At these locations the pipes of TAQA Energy and Gasunie will be connected to allow gas to be exchanged.

A.Hak Leidingbouw in bussiness with aQuaintance

Reinhard Rohrbau strengthens the group

In 2012, NAM (the Dutch Oil Company) signed a five-year contract for the engineering, procurement, and execution of all its national onshore projects. The contract was in the name of aQuaintance, a brandnew company initiated by shareholders Cofely, Tebodin and A.Hak Leidingbouw.

Reinhard Rohrbau was added to the group in 2012. This company took over the assets and liabilities of the Meppen branch of Nacap GmbH, creating a company that offers solutions for transporting energy and other products (such as communication and telecommunications) in the German-speaking areas of the countries around us.

The three shareholders have also worked for NAM before the new agreement was signed, namely in a joint venture called LOP (National Onshore Projects). One of the main reasons for converting the joint venture into an independent company was to intensify the cooperation between the three individual companies. Paul Langbroek of A.Hak Leidingbouw believes that there are many advantages to the fact that his team has been involved in the execution of the project from the start. ‘This lets us bring our knowledge and expertise to the project at an early stage and it gives us more responsibility for the joint execution of the project. We’re also able to work even more efficiently now.’ aQuaintance was awarded the contract in a tender that no less than 27 parties responded to. ‘The new setup focuses more on the values that NAM stands for’, says Bas Schellenberg, department head of onshore projects, ‘namely safety, planning, cost control and quality.’ aQuaintance turned out to be the very best on those points.

Reinhard Rohrbau is an all-round organisation with its main offices in Meppen, a town in the German federal state of Lower Saxony, about half an hour by car from Emmen. The company also has a branch office in Raunheim, on the River Main in central Germany. Its core competences are the construction of pipelines for gas, water, district heating and wastewater, combined with telecommunications cabling and other applications as necessary. The company also builds compressor stations, gas dehydration systems, underground storage facilities, transfer stations and water purification systems. The activities of this new A.Hakpark company range from planning and design to construction and commissioning , as well as all maintenance, inspection, management and documentation tasks. Reinhard Rohrbau transports energy from the producers to the users and its wide range of services allows the company to respond flexibly to the needs and wishes of its clients. Reinhard Rohrbau currently has about a hundred employees.

a.hakpark magazine

short items

A.Hak Industrie has been appreciated throughout the country for decades now as a partner for various oil and gas companies and the chemical industry. A.Hak Industrie can be found at all key industrial locations where these sectors have their offices to make sure that clients benefit from the knowledge, experience and facilities of the various companies in our group. In 2012 a number of projects were completed successfully, including an order for DSM Fibre Intermediates at the Chemelot site in Geleen.

A lot of time pressure and zero incidents A.HAK INDUSTRIE SUCCESSFUL FOR DSM

TEXT Adriaan van Hooijdonk

he employees of A.Hak Industrie Born and Mechanical Contracting Limburg (MCL) were faced with a new challenge in 2012. In no more than ten weeks the partial renovation and installation of two distillation columns at the cyclohexanone factory of DSM Fibre Intermediates had to be carried out. Normally this takes at least twice as long. DSM removes heavier and lighter elements from crude cyclohexanone in these columns, which were first used in the sixties and seventies. Cyclohexanone is an important raw material for the production of caprolactam, a compound that is often used in high-tech plastics, as well as in clothing, carpets and fishing lines. The steel of the columns had been partly affected by corrosion underneath the insulation. The industry often faces this problem and that is why A.Hak Industrie Born was asked by Sitech Services to help DSM come up with a solution quickly. After all, shutting a factory down can costs between 100,000 and a million euros a day. Working round the clock

Furthermore, the work on the columns had to coincide with the planned maintenance stop of the caprolactam factory. The time normally needed for a comparable job is between 20 and 24 weeks, but there was no time for that because of the maintenance stop. That is why the work was performed over a period of ten weeks, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, to partially renovate the columns and to relocate them on the site. Several external suppliers changed their planning in order to deliver the required parts. A.Hak Industrie Botlek employees also came to support their colleagues in the south of the country.

chemistry a.hakpark magazine

A.Hak Industrie comprises A.Hak Industrie Botlek, Born and Noord-Oost (North-East), Mechanical Contracting Limburg (MCL) and H.J. Mertens.

They will last for years

A massive 700-tonne Mammoet crane was used to lift the columns out of their foundations. These columns are over 30 metres tall and 3.5 metres in diameter and weigh 45 tonnes each. Thorough inspection showed that the lower parts of the columns were still usable. They were therefore first cut into two pieces on site, after which the lower part could be repaired at the workshop in Born. A completely new upper structure was then welded onto it. Finally, all components were blasted and given a special coating to make sure they will last for years. ‘Fantastic job’

Rob Reinartz, DSM’s manufacturing director of Fibre Intermediates, was extremely satisfied with the work in the cyclohexanone factory. ‘A.Hak Industrie has carried out a fantastic job with the partial renovation of the two new distillation columns for the cyclohexanone factory and with their re-installation at the Chemelot site within two weeks. Despite all the time pressure, no safety incidents whatsoever occurred. We did not have any delays in starting up the factory either. All parties

have cooperated extremely well and completed this job to the satisfaction of all concerned. A.Hak Industrie was also very much involved in other activities during the maintenance stop at the Chemelot site.’ A new and challenging job

Part of the Chemelot site was also prepared for a new and challenging job in 2012. DSM has started the construction of a new ammonium sulphate factory that is to replace the existing plant, which is over 40 years old. The new factory will produce 280,000 tonnes more, emit less fine particulate material and CO2, as well as use energy more economically. DSM sells ammonium sulphate in particular for fertilisers via the fertiliser manufacturer OCI, but it is also a raw material for the medical and food industries. A.Hak Industrie Born has also constructed pipes and removed and diverted cables, so that the construction could be started. In addition, MCL has been selected by Tebodin in a tender to supply a number of innovative and sustainable items of equipment for the new factory in the near future.

‘Learning and improving continuously’

Safety is number one on the priority list of A.Hak Industrie and its clients. That is why they work together in various ways to ensure the highest possible safety level. ‘The emphasis is on learning and improving continuously’, says Erik Knarren, operations manager of A.Hak Industrie Born. For example, they deliberately chose to use a pressure vacuum truck for earthworks. ‘It’s more expensive than excavation, but it prevents expensive pipes from breaking, which will result in considerable savings in the long run. We have also invested in an aluminium trench shoring system. Although placing it takes longer, it is much safer than the wooden casings used up till now to prevent the soil from moving.’

a.hakpark magazine

chemistry

Training together with Liander

FIGHTING THE AGEING POPULATION PROFILE

The western European population is ageing, and good young technicians are becoming ever harder to find. Liander realised that a large number of its staff would be retiring in the near future. Together with its business partners from the building contractors’ sector, including A.Hak Infranet, this particular network operator tackled the problem energetically with the Samen Opleiden (Training Together) programme. Liander’s programme manager René Weij shares his experiences after the first year. TEXT Richard van Santen PHOTOGRAPHY Maarten van der Voorde

‘T

Marc van Waveren (left) and Sjoerd Rutjes with their coach Willem Bongers (right).

raining Together is part of our strategic staffing plan. When we took a closer look at our workforce in 2011, we saw a big grey-haired wave coming at us. They were all people who will be leaving the company within the next five years, because they’ll have reached retirement age. If you add the impending lack of good technical staff, the conclusion becomes clear: we had to take action. Sitting back was not an option, because that would mean that we wouldn’t have enough technicians in five years’ time. We need five years to train recent graduates as fully-fledged technicians. They go to college for four years and after that they have to accumulate “flying time” for another year. Once we had that sorted out, we checked our workforce at the individual level. Which of the technicians will be leaving the company within five years and how will that influence our need for particular staff? We concluded that we had to recruit and train fifty people a year for a period of five years. In 2012 we started with the first batch of fifty.’

Business partners

‘We chose to start a training course together with the contractors. After all, we are now outsourcing so much work, that we’re not able to offer a complete learning curve ourselves. In addition, Liander wants to treat its partners as business partners, rather than the traditional relationship between client and contractor. We believe that this challenge should be tackled together in such a relationship. We have thought up the following solution. We hire young people and offer them one and a half days a week on the course on average. They will be working for the contractor during the remaining three and a half days, at our expense. This may seem very generous, but you

GAS & ELEcTRICITy a.hakpark magazine

must realise that they will need a lot of training during the first eight months and won’t really be productive for the contractors. On the other hand, we are giving our business partners the opportunity to register their own people for this training course. In the second year of the course there will be a period in which a choice will have to be made. If the pupil decides not to continue learning, but to go and work for the contractor, that will be one possibility. If not, they’ll return to us from that moment on.’ Regional Training Centres

‘We don’t only use Liander’s own teachers for the training course. We also work with teachers from the Regional Training Centres (ROCs). The nice thing about it is that this will guarantee that the apprentices will get a diploma, in line with the proper training levels laid down in the Educational and Vocational Studies Act. The ROC teachers are very pleased with it, because it lets them stay in touch with the practical side and work using up-to-date equipment. That’s not always present at the ROCs and we sometimes notice that in the graduates. When they come out of college, they’re often used to working with outdated equipment. So it is a blessing for the training centres that this is a way of getting in touch with the commercial realities again.’ Intensive process

‘Pupils who are taking the course will have a permanent coach during the entire period. This could be a coach from Liander or from the contractor. Each apprentice will also be linked to one of our teams and will keep in touch with Liander through his team leader. It is an intensive process for the apprentices. That’s not hard to understand. You

Fitting theory with practice

Egon Teunissen, regional manager for A.Hak Infranet region South, which also covers the province of Gelderland), is very satisfied with Training Together. ‘The fact that apprentices are taking theoretical and practical lessons as well as getting their flying time under their belts at our company is unique and very efficient’, he says, ‘as is the fact that they are supervised by Liander and work for us under the supervision of a technician. This allows both parties to make sure that the training course and the work are handled properly. The young technicians get the requisite certificates very quickly. Last but not least are the safety certificates. The VCA programme – the safety checklist for contractors – is tackled immediately: working safely in the vicinity roads, in-house emergency services, working safely with asbestos cement pipes, courses like Sufficiently Trained Persons from VIAG and BEI, and so forth. These apprentices will therefore get a considerable number of basic certificates in just a short time. In my opinion, the biggest advantage of this method of training is that theory and practice are closely related. There couldn’t be a better fit than this one.’

a.hakpark magazine

GAS & ELEcTRICITy

have to learn a lot before you’re ready to be called out at night when you’re asleep and then have to solve a fault totally independently. You’re working with gas and electricity and they pose large safety risks. In addition, Liander has come about after a merger of eleven companies, which means there can be small differences in configurations. It’s the

‘ We’re looking back enthusias tically on the first year’ same thing as having a driving licence: you are reckoned to be capable of driving a Volkswagen or a Mercedes, but switching from one to the other can be quite different. A lad like that has got to have the right mentality for doing his job on his own.’ Well received

‘We’re now looking back enthusiastically at the first year of Training Together. Finding the people wasn’t so difficult, which was probably due to the rather poor economic situation. But of course you come across things during the first year. For instance, it’s not always easy to find good coaches. A good, experienced technician is not necessarily always someone who can get his knowledge

Programme manager René Weij says, ‘Everybody understands that we have to respond appropriately to the ageing population profile.’

GAS & ELEcTRICITy a.hakpark magazine

across well. What we did observe was a great deal of enthusiasm among the older technicians. They are pleased to see that we’re doing a lot to make sure that their knowledge is passed on to the next generation. The programme has also been well received by the contractors. Of course, it’s not always nice to see a boy who is doing a good job leave the company after two years, but on the other hand the contractors can get their own people trained now too. Liander is also a partner that is looking for long-term relationships with contractors – business partners rather than one-off contracts with companies who accept the order – and this investment in the relationship is all part of the deal. In addition, Liander pays these apprentices and so they are involved in the production. However, the key driving force is that everyone in our sector understands that we have to respond appropriately to the ageing population profile.’

HIS opens an office in Malaysia In 2012, A.Hak Industrial Services was very active beyond our borders. An office was opened in Kuala Lumpur in order to provide better service to the Far Eastern market. There was also a range of notable projects in, amongst other places, Japan and Switzerland. In the Netherlands, Pipeline Services was also successful. Since May last year, HIS has had a sales office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to represent all four activities, namely pipeline services, inspection services, tank services and industrial services. Kuala Lumpur was chosen because of its central location in South-East Asia, which is developing rapidly and has enormous market potential. This location, close to the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s busiest port in Singapore, is excellent for organising transport and mobilisation. The most important markets to be operated from Kuala Lumpur in the coming years are Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. In December, HIS South-East Asia marked its first success with two tank inspections for the state oil company PETRONAS. Pipeline displacement

In Switzerland HIS Hoogeveen drained two pipelines with a technology known as pipeline displacement, which involves purging the pipeline with an enormous quantity of gaseous nitrogen. For the first pipe, 500,000 kg of nitrogen was used in two days and for the second pipe 1,800,000 kg in six days. Special piglet

In the inspection field, HIS was successful in Japan with the inspection of a loading line for the JFE Steel Corporation. Because the line was difficult to inspect, a special piglet was developed. This is a machine that collects information on the condition of the pipe using electronic measuring apparatus. After a successful test using a test setup in Tricht, a contract was signed. The Pipeline Services business unit not only delivered excellent work for a number of outside customers, it also did a lot of work for other A.Hakpark companies, particularly in the field of drying and testing pipelines. The business unit in Nieuw-Heeten demonstrated once again that the A.Hakpark companies complement each other very well.

Hakademy Hoogeveen

You can read more about the HIS training facilities in Tricht in the article on Page 9. But this new facility isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the only training centre. In April a start was made on the Hakademy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the HIS training facility in Hoogeveen. This facility, which is aimed at the (petro) chemical industry, has a unique machine park, storage tanks and many materials that require experience, accuracy and knowledge. For this purpose, the Hakademy provides internal training courses, put together by a team of highly experienced employees. Novice employees receive a good introduction and the requisite training while experienced operators and supervisors are also trained at the academy. The practical part of the training is given on the outdoor part of the site while the theory is taught in the classroom.

a.hakpark magazine

OiL & GAS

Our companies A.Hakpark consists of many branches. All make their own contributions to our efforts to operate in the oil and gas, water, electricity and lighting, communications and renewable energy markets.

A.Hak Leidingbouw

Reinhard Rohrbau

A.Hak Electron

Constructs pipelines for transporting, amongst other things, gas, oil, (waste) water and heat, both above and below ground. This can involve the new-build, replacement or relocation of pipelines. Operates mainly in the Netherlands and neighbouring countries.

Its core competencies are the construction of pipelines for gas, water, urban heating and wastewater, combined where necessary with cabling for telecommunications and other applications. Also builds installations such as compressor stations, gas-drying systems, underground storage facilities, transfer stations and water purification plants. Active in the German-speaking part of Europe.

Specialised in the laying, maintenance, renovation and decommissioning of both underground and above-ground high-voltage and medium-voltage transmission lines. Branches in Germany and the ÂNetherlands.

A.Hak International

Constructs pipelines for primarily oil, gas and water in countries both within and outside Europe â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from design to management and maintenance. Project-driven company that brings in much experience and technical know-how and, where possible, makes use of local manpower.

general information a.hakpark magazine

A.Hak Industrie

Designs, builds and maintains both underground and above-ground pipeline systems, apparatus and production installations. Also specialised in gas installation construction. Consists of A.Hak Industrie Botlek, Noord-Oost (North-East) and Born, Mechanical Contracting Limburg (MCL) and H.J. Mertens.

A.Hak Engineering

Specialist in route engineering. The link between a design and a detailed route that's ready to be constructed. Limits nuisance to the surroundings by taking nature, the environment and existing infrastructure into account. Aso takes care of permits and licenses.

Five markets

renewable energy

A.Hakpark builds pipelines for the transport and distribution of water. We Âoperate throughout the market for electricity and lighting technology. In addition, we offer solutions for data and telecommunication traffic. Our own mast factory builds masts for communication and lighting. In the renewable energy market, we are engaged in the construction of various green energy systems and participate in innovative new enterprises. In the oil and gas market we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t limit ourselves to the construction of pipes, but also coat and inspect the pipes ourselves and carry out drilling operations. In addition, we design and manufacture equipment and systems and build compressor stations.

oil and gas

water

electricity and lighting

communications

A.Hak Infranet

A.Hak Industrial Services

A.Hak Drillcon

Tjaden

Active in the distribution of gas, water, electricity, heat, lighting, communication, and traffic control systems. From design to management. Makes use of combined construction where possible.

Service provider for the oil, gas and petrochemical industries, with integrated business units for Inspection Services, Tank Services and Industrial Services. We mention Pipeline Services separately; this business unit mainly performs testing and drying activities with and for A.Hak Leidingbouw, A.Hak International and A.Hak Industrie, though it works for external customers as well. A.Hak Industrial Services has four locations in the Netherlands, including the new headquarters in Tricht, six branch offices in Europe, two in the United States, one each in Abu Dhabi, Brazil and South Africa and a new office in Malaysia.

Highly innovative specialist in the design and execution of all types of drilling operations for underground infrastructure. In that capacity, involved in a large number of projects with other A.Hakpark companies, both in the Netherlands and abroad. Also works for external customers.

Internationally-operating specialist in the field of draining, drilling and water treatment technologies. Also constructs thermal energy storage systems.

Plaisier

Infranet company, part of A.Hakpark since February 2012. Specialised in the combined laying of cables and pipelines, operating in the north of the Dutch province of Noord-Holland. A.Hak Telecom

Offers all imaginable solutions for rapid and problem-free data and telecom transmission via copper, glass fibre, coaxial network and wireless systems. Responsible for the whole process from design to management. Established in Zwolle (Netherlands) and Romania.

Conline-Rhenania

Provides internal and external coating of pipes for transporting oil, gas, water and other liquids. Processes pipes of all materials and in formats from 1/2" to 64" diameter.

Kaal Masten

Largest manufacturer of quality masts and towers in the Netherlands. Committed to sustainable, safe and attractive public spaces.

a.hakpark magazine

general information

Integrated products and services The A.Hakpark companies function independently and have their own specialisations. Within the group, they can - when the work Âcalls for it - combine their forces to accommodate their clients throughout entire chains of work. Where we build pipelines and cables, we also provide coatings, drilling and draining operations and build installations, masts and equipment. In addition to large transport pipelines and cables, we also construct industrial pipeline systems and distribution networks for gas, electricity and telecommunications. Furthermore, we serve the oil and gas market and the (petro) chemical industry with an integrated range of industrial services.

swalmen, august 2013

Drilling for Gasunieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s North-South Route