Guadeloupe March 2024 – ProKASRO goes Pirates of the Caribbean

First-class support on first-class holiday island - BKP Berolina and ProKASRO train installation team on Guadeloupe from 0 to DN 1200

As paradisiacal as the Caribbean Guadeloupe presents itself with the almost kitschy postcard motifs of its white beaches and palm trees, there is also a need for functional and sustainable wastewater infrastructure there. The teams from ProKASRO Mechatronik GmbH and BKP Berolina Polyester GmbH & Co. KG, which traveled to the French overseas territory for the first time, trained and supported their new customer Grands Travaux Caribéens SAS (GTC) in installing three UV light-curing Berolina-HF-Liners. After three humid days, the DN 1200 hoses with a wall thickness of eleven millimeters and a total length of 95 meters were successfully installed.

Working where others go on vacation is a welcome change in a technician's everyday life. But there are also downsides to the holiday paradise: During the monsoon season between June and October, Guadeloupe is exposed to heavy rainfall. Tropical storms and hurricanes bring torrential rain and floods, which have been extreme particularly in recent years, and have even cost human lives. The Guadeloupe region is responding to this with major investments to renovate and expand the dilapidated wastewater infrastructure. Part of this goes towards the renovation of sewers and storm drains with UV light-curing pipe liners.

ProKASRO delivers flexible curing solutions and know-how 

The starting signal for the renovation work on Guadeloupe was given in Karlsruhe, Germany, in November last year. A small delegation from GTC was able to hand over a new system with the KASRO UV-CCU including the KASRO UV double core 2 x 4 x 1000W in a specially designed container. Especially when island hopping through the archipelago of the French Antilles, working with this flexible solution, which is designed for construction site use with pipe diameters from DN 150 to DN 1200, is much more comfortable. Applications technician Richard Plank and service engineer Nicolas Kempf trained the GTC team in Guadeloupe on how to properly use the KASRO UV system. The renovation work was then completed flawlessly thanks to the extremely willing and adaptive team from GTC.

BKP Berolina impresses with its liner characteristics and support

At the end of last year, the project was also significantly advanced by GTC engineer Gregory Renaison with BKP Berolina. After close discussions with Sales Manager Antoine Noirtin, GTC decided on the Berolina-HF-Liner to renovate the culverts. It was particularly impressive due to its unique extension and adapting behavior as well as its minimum expected functionality of 50 years. In addition, “due to its high mechanical properties, our HF-Liner is an ideal solution in regions where earthquakes occur frequently,” says Noirtin. The know-how of the BKP employees from near Berlin and Paris further strengthened the partnership. In Guadeloupe, Noirtin and application technician David Kijewski trained and supported the inexperienced installation team.

Elaborate construction site preparation and a tight schedule 

The two construction sites with stormwater drains under busy streets required thorough preparation. Pumping out the existing water from the backwater basins was also necessary, as was the construction of a concrete platform in order to be able to reach the pipes that needed to be renovated without any problems. In addition, 80 tons of gravel were delivered for a construction road so that the liner boxes could be brought to the installation site with an excavator. It only took three days to install the DN 1,200 liners including training. A challenge because the technicians had to communicate the necessary fine-tuning with the GTC team, the team had no practical installation experience and was immediately confronted with a large diameter.

Learning by doing 

After the first site visit and a final equipment check, the first installation under a country road could begin. While the technicians were still fully involved and providing detailed instructions, the steep learning curve and improved processes of the GTC crew were already evident during the second renovation project in the inner city area. The team was able to install the third and final liner completely independently under supervision. In the end there was a great overall result. The installed Berolina-HF-Liners adapted optimally to the host pipes of the rainwater drains despite diameter deviations. The three days of installation with parallel training meant a lot of input for the GTC employees, which first needs to be processed and consolidated. The technicians from BKP and ProKASRO paid particular attention to the most important basics on the construction site, raising awareness of possible dangers and general occupational safety.

Excellent prospects thanks to high commitment 

The success of the three days in Guadeloupe is also measured by the successfully installed liners, but even more by the huge progress that the GTC employees made during this time. Their professional attitude, willingness to learn and high self-motivation made very good preparation for further projects in the future possible. “When an installation team is so focused on the task, we as technicians naturally have more fun doing our work,” says Richard Plank from ProKASRO. David Kijewski from BKP highlights the cooperation between the three companies in this work assignment: “It is still clear that new training with a constellation of technicians from the liner and UV system manufacturer and the installation team is the best. The technicians have a much better focus on their actual area of ​​responsibility and the customer benefits from this much more effectively.” For Grands Travaux Caribéens, the first successfully installed pipe liners in Guadeloupe represent a fabulous start in the world of trenchless rehabilitation. If the team continues to approach future projects conscientiously and with motivation, their long-term success is assured. There is no shortage of potential work – there is plenty to do in the Caribbean. Antoine Noirtin from BKP is confident about the future: “The liners are now perfectly installed and everyone involved is satisfied. We can look forward to the next projects.”

From Max Gottschalk (BKP Berolina) & Teresa Jahn (ProKASRO)