Zeebrugge - Evergem - Belgium

Client: Fluxys

The consortium formed by A.Hak and Spiecapag won the contract to build a 40-inch (⌀ 1,000 mm) pipeline to transport natural gas between Knokke-Heist and Evergem in Belgium.

The contract was awarded by Fluxys, a Belgian infrastructure group active in energy transmission and storage operating the country’s natural gas and hydrogen networks.

The new pipeline is designed to transport gas today, while remaining fully ready to carry hydrogen once the market requires it.

The project

This new 48-km pipeline will run alongside the existing gas pipelines. Once complete, it will increase the transport capacity of the Belgian natural gas network and/or make it possible to supply the new power stations scheduled for 2025-2026.

The contract stipulated the use of cutting-edge trenchless technology, including horizontal directional drilling, micro-tunnelling and conventional drilling, in order to cross obstacles and minimise the impact of operations.

This project is one of three works packages that make up the future  “H2 highway”  between Zeebrugge and Brussels, a major piece of infrastructure helping Europe to fulfil its ambition to become climate neutral by 2050 and help further the European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB) initiative.