New Flexible Water Pipe for Vestmanna Islands

Client: Hitaveita Suðurnesja HF

In July 2008 JD-Contractor installed a new offshore water pipe between the Icelandic mainland in Bakkafjara and the Vestmanna Islands, off Iceland’s South-Western coast. The water pipe is 12.6 kilometres long and is the longest water pipe in the world, which lies on an ocean floor.

The flexible water pipe was manufactured at NKT-Flexibles factory in Kalundborg (Denmark) and transported to the Vestmanna Islands on JD-Contractor A/S’ Cable barge Henry P. Lading.

The installation was also carried out from C/B Henry P. Lading. Initially the pipe was laid afloat on airbags and pulled 300 metres up on the beach at Bakkafjara. Here it was fastened, and the pipe was laid on the ocean floor between lava rocks and in water depths up to 90 meters. Approx. 48 hours after the installation was commenced the pipe was pulled ashore onto the Vestmanna Islands.

The pipe is installed in an extreme environment where wind gusts are regularly up to 100 knots and the waves of up to 20 metres. Nonetheless, the pipe is designed and installed in a manner so it is expected to have a minimum lifespan of 40 years.

The manufacturing and installation of the pipe was carried out in a Joint Venture between NKT-Flexibles and JD-Contractor A/S. This was C/B Henry P. Lading's sixth time in the Vestmanna Islands to install or repair either submarine power cables or flexible pipes. And the installation of the new flexible pipe was carried out exactly 40 years after C/B Henry P. Lading installed the first ever water pipe to the Vestmanna Islands. That water pipe was also provided by NKT-Flexibles and was the first flexible pipe ever produced by the company.