BBL Company was established to design, construct, operate and exploit the Balgzand-Bacton Pipeline (BBL) for the transmission of natural gas from Balgzand, the Netherlands to Bacton in the United Kingdom. The overall length of the 36" offshore pipeline is some 230 kilometers. The capacity is around 42 million m<sup>3</sup> of gas a day. As part of the pipeline installation, Saipem UK Ltd awarded Boskalis Offshore the contracts for the shore approaches at Julianadorp, the Netherlands and Bacton in the United Kingdom and the presweeping and rock dumping works along the pipeline route on the North Sea.
The scope started at the tie-in to the HDD dune crossing on the beach. Planning of activities on the beach required careful consideration with regard to the sensitive dune areas adjacent to the project site and tourists on the beach during the summer season. From the beach a 300 meters long sheet piled cofferdam was installed to facilitate trench excavation through the surf zone. From the offshore end of the cofferdam a trench was dredged up to 7 kilometers offshore. This scope also included the supply and operation of a 500 tons capacity linear pull winch and pull wire installation to facilitate the beach pull operations. Upon completion of the pipeline installation, the trench was backfilled, the cofferdam removed and the beach re-instated.
