Hy flying

Wednesday, 24 September 2008 21:48

CARRIE KELLY The Pipeline Hydromaxx’s specialty is hyro excavation, something the Brooks based company says has become a mainstay in the oilfield. Russ Rann is operations manager for Hydromaxx, which also has offices in Stettler, Red Deer and Calgary. “We do excavation with water rather than digging so we can safely hydrovac around lines without cutting them or hurting the coating,” he said. “We do anything from opening up a new facility to digging around footings to putting in fence post holes.” Eighty-five per cent of its business comes from the oilfield, and Hydromaxx provides services such as slot trenching, debris removal, pipe and utilities exposure, post and piling holes and backslopes. The company began operations in 2000 with two trucks in the Brooks area. It now has nine hydrovac units and recently added a single axle to its fleet for jobs that need to minimize the environmental footprint as much as possible. While the oilpatch in Alberta has seen a bit of a slowdown since the government made its royalty announcement, it hasn’t affected Hydromaxx. “Hydrovaccing doesn’t always go on how busy the patch is. A lot of what we do is maintenance work. We’re taking care of existing pipelines and upkeep of facilities,” Rann said. Using hyro excavation can save money for oil and gas companies, he said. “It is the only safe way to excavate a pipe at this time. Because hyrovaccing is a safe method, you can quickly go down. A backhoe is much slower.” The vacuum truck is five times faster than mechanical digging and the minimized work area reflects less soil mass being impacted. While Hydromaxx has grown a great deal in its eight years in business, it remains a small company. “We’re small enough to know our customers personally, but we’re big enough to supply all their needs,” said Rann.