Bredero Shaw received a coating contract for APA’s 18 inch diameter Young to Wagga Looping Pipeline in October 2009, through Marubeni-Itochu Tubulars Oceania.
The pipe was manufactured in Japan by JFE Steel, and was received at Port Kembla in two batches, with the first 56 km arriving at the end of December 2009 and the remainder of the shipment arriving early 2010.
Road curfews over the December/January holiday period resulted in portions of the pipe being held within Port Kembla confines until early January. When the pipe was able to be delivered to Bredero Shaw’s Port Kembla yard, the company received it on a 24-hour basis with standard noise mitigation process enacted.
One of the major challenges of this project was a timely delivery period of the coated pipe. Given various external influences inhibiting a quick delivery, the timely delivery of pipe initially seemed unachievable. However, with a concerted effort from all in the supply chain, APA’s requirements for all pipe to be coated and ready for dispatch by the middle of February 2010 was ultimately achieved.
A dual-layer fusion-bonded-epoxy coating system was used, with a total thickness of 600 microns. There was also a 600 m concrete portion, which was 25 mm in total thickness. Coating works were completed within five weeks of the pipe being received.
Given that pipe construction was delayed due to finalisation of project approval, it was necessary to store the pipe offsite, which alleviated concerns for yard capacity due to other large project work booked for 2010. Bredero liaised directly with APA to achieve the offsite stockpile, and APA constructed a satellite stockpile in the Junee area. Pipe was then loaded out at a rate of 18-20 trucks a day.