With ITP Interpipe, the port of Caen, a player in our energy independence
Established in the town of Ranville and with a quay in the port of Caen-Ouistreham, ITP Interpipe supplies the United States with a major pipeline project for an LNG terminal on the East Coast. Eventually, it must ensure gas deliveries to France…
Unknown to the general public, ITP Interpipe is a French company specializing in the design, supply and manufacture of highly insulated underwater and land pipes for international markets. “To put it simply, we insulate the tubes (+200°/-200°) using a technology that we have patented. Once prepared and delivered to our customers, these tubes are then used to manufacture pipelines to transport oil, gas or even liquid bitumen. And this technology, we are able to implement it on diameters of up to 1 meter…”, explains Vincent Lefèvre, manager of the Ranville plant, located a stone’s throw from the famous Pegasus Bridge.
“Our flexibility means being able to adapt the configuration of the plant to each site. There, we have just dimensioned the site for the construction of a project in the United States on which we are going to supply 4 kilometers of tubes: a pipeline which will connect the LNG transformation plant to the LNG terminal. The ships, once loaded, will cross the Atlantic to free Europe from its dependence on Russian gas… Somehow, we are also players in our energy independence,” jokes the manager.
In order to support this ramp-up, the company is currently in the recruitment phase. “Nearly 150 people, mainly in temporary work, on profiles that will not come from any particular qualification. In the workshop, we use relatively simple machines which allow us to be autonomous on the job after 1 to 2 days of training…”, assures Vincent Lefèvre. An operation that the company may well have to renew soon. ITP Interpipe is currently consulted on a very large project almost 80 kilometers long and will know at the beginning of 2023 if it is selected.
An extended lease for a strong international signal
Tenant of facilities in the port of Caen Ouistreham, Interpipe has requested the services of CCI Caen Normandie, concessionaire of the Port of Caen-Ouistreham, in order to extend its lease over the long term and above all send a message of confidence to its international customers. “We generate 100% of our turnover from exports, in countries where the subtleties of French law are not always understood. In terms of temporary occupancy, agreements can be renewed annually and we needed to display a certain form of stability vis-à-vis our customers. This was understood very well by the services of the CCI with whom we were able to sign, from January 2022, a 15-year Temporary Occupation Authorization”, explains Vincent Lefèvre, whose discussions with the concessionaire will certainly continue…
“Still within the framework of the market on which we are consulted, we would have to produce nearly 2,200 tubes, 36 meters long… However, our wharf does not have a sufficient draft to load directly onto small boat. It would then be necessary to ensure transport by truck to the final loading dock which is only a few kilometers from here, but by road, and under escort… We therefore thought with the CCI about a system of intermediate transport by barge, allowing one week’s worth of production to be transported to a storage site, located directly at the port”. If this file, which already needs 18 months of preparation, sees the light of day, it will symbolize for the Normandy factory a full year of production with a workforce of 300 people…