The contract involves coating 250 km of 219 mm OD and 50 km of 168 mm OD pipe for the project. The main line will be coated with 1.15 mm of Yellowkote HDPE in accordance with AS1518-2002 while the HDD sections will be protected with 3.22 mm of Heavy Duty Trikote® Trilaminate in accordance with CAN/CSA-Z245.21.

Socotherm operates the newest linepipe coating plant in Australia which has been further developed in recent times with the installation of a state of the art, high capacity annular HDPE extrusion plant.

Socotherm commenced receiving bare linepipe in early July and coating works are expected to be complete midway through the fourth quarter of 2005. The production schedule has been carefully structured to ensure compatibility with the construction contractors program whilst still allowing for spare capacity to accommodate other coating work over the project duration.

As with all major pipeline projects, pipe traceability is of major importance and Socotherm is utilising its Socotrack pipe management system which adopts bar code scanning and labelling techniques to maintain and track pipe identification from the point of receipt, through the various coating processes up to loading of coated pipe onto trucks for subsequent delivery to the ROW. Socotrack is also an integral part of Socotherm’s ISO9001:2000 accredited quality management system and is used to collate quality, production and schedule data and to generate reports on the progress and effectiveness of the project management execution plan.

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Socotherm’s Project Director Paul Wilson said “This project represents a milestone in our evolution as a first class provider of coating services to the Australian market and we are grateful to Delco and Central Ranges Pipeline Pty Ltd for their support and confidence in our abilities to deliver. Given our unrivalled customer service provided by dedicated and experienced staff, we feel positive about the future and trust that the industry will continue to value our contribution and the competition that only we provide.”