WorldWide Drilling Resource

48 APRIL 2015 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Beer Pipeline to Preserve Medieval City Compiled by Amy White, Associate Editor WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Bruges, located a few miles inland from the English Channel in northwest Belgium, was founded by Vikings and has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age. It’s the place books were first print- ed in English and French. The entire city center of Bruges is a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site; and home to world-renowned archi- tecture from the medieval period. Since the 1850s, De Halve Maan brewery has been making beer in Bruges. In 2010, the company opened a new bot- tling facility outside the city to accommo- date growth, amove resulting in a logistical problem. Each year, over a million gallons of beer must be trucked from the brewery to the new facility, causing congestion in the small, cobblestone streets of Bruges. When the brewery began exploring new options for moving beer across town, someone suggested installing a b e e r p i pe l i ne below the c i t y. De H a l v e Maan owner and Managing Director Xavier Vanneste said the idea seemed to be a joke at first. However, uponmore seri- ous consideration, it didn’t seem like such a bad idea. Vanneste and his team observed the oil and gas industries, where pipelines are commonplace, to see if the beer pipeline was technically feasible. It was, so the team turned to local authorities to start the process of constructing a pipeline. Town officials were pleased with the idea, and approved the pipeline. Franky Dumon, the alderman for spacial planning who approved the project said, “It’s a win- win situation for everyone.” Once a course is set, a computer- guided drill will make a path for the pipe- line. It will be similar to modern oil and gas pipelines. De Halve Maan reassured the public there will be no damage to Bruges’ architecture in the process. The pipeline will be about two miles long and eliminate heavy truck traffic within the city. Beer traveling through the pipe will reach its destination in about 15-20 minutes. Vanneste admitted moving the brew- ery closer to the bottling plant would be a more economical solution; however, re- taining the company’s authenticity means keeping the brewery on its original prem- ises. With the pipeline installed, De Halve Maan gets to stay in its historic location, while keeping the cobblestone streets intact. In case you’re wondering how the brewery will prevent a great underground beer heist, the new polyethylene pipeline is designed to be stronger than steel, so De Halve Maan is not concerned about illegal tapping. Editor’s Note: In between our print issues, the WWDR Team prepares an elec- tronic newsletter called E-News Flash . Based on readership, this was the most popular E-News Flash article of the month. Get in on the action and subscribe today at: worldwidedrillingresource.com ! !!+ ( *+%& ! $(% & !,,%)(, 2 (-!+- %('!(- !#.& -%)(, ( (")+' -%)( 2 ((. & !!-%(# +%&&%(# %#, ( !/ ! $()&)#1 %,*& 1, )+ )+! (")+' -%)( )(- - +)& +,)( $)(! ' %& // 0*&)+(!- )'