120,000 tonnes of coated large-diameter pipes to Mexico

The Project

In partnership with the Mexican state-owned power utility Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), TC Energy is building a new offshore gas pipeline to secure the power supply in southeastern Mexico. The 715 km deepwater pipeline is a $4.5 billion investment to supply energy to millions of Mexicans.

Around half of the very demanding 36" (DN 914 mm) thick-wall pipeline pipes will be supplied by EUROPIPE Mülheim. The order includes the supply of 265,000 tons of pipe (365 km) including anti-corrosion coating.

The Southeast Gateway Pipeline, which is scheduled to come on stream in mid-2025, will run from Tuxpan (state of Veracruz) through the Gulf of Mexico to Coatzacoalcos (state of Veracruz) and Dos Bocas (state of Tabasco) and will transport around 37 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.

The raw material for the pipe production is provided by EUROPIPE's shareholders, the Salzgitter Group and AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke. EUROPIPE subsidiary MÜLHEIM PIPECOATINGS GmbH is responsible for the external coating and internal lining of the pipes.

The Job

The DREWES Group has received the order from Europipe to deliver 120,000 tons from Bremen, Germany, to Altamira, Mexico.

The Performance

Europipe took care of the delivery of the large pipes by rail to the German seaport of Bremen. From here, DREWES Logistics coordinated the sea transport. For the shipment, four vessels of the Hamburg shipping company Oldendorff Carriers were taken over by DREWES Logistics under full charter and sent from Bremen to Altamira. All the pipes were handed over to the consignee within the specified time frame and without damage.

Video: Loading Operations in the Port of Bremen

The Bottom Line

Europipe is a long-standing customer of the DREWES Group. A similar project for Mexico with landing in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, was successfully completed for Europipe a few years ago. In addition, the DREWES Group can refer to many other projects for the shipment of large pipes via European ports.

Success through Teamwork

To win this large-scale contract, the DREWES Group was able to score points with its customer Europipe by combining the success factors "marketable rate", "performance" and "experience". The project was implemented in close partnership with the shipping company Oldendorff Carriers and the terminal operations in Bremen (BLG Cargo Logistics). The fact that the clearing of the vessels in the ports was carried out by DREWES Shipping, a member of the DREWES Group, also contributed to the simplification of the processes. The shipping process took about half a year and was successfully completed in the summer of 2023.