FUJI Vegetable Oil Project

Microtunneling

FUJI Vegetable Oil Project

Location: Avondale, Louisiana
Status: Completed 2022
Method: Microtunneling
Casing: 72″ OD Permalok Steel
Length: 660 LF
Shafts: Two, 36 ft deep
Crossing: 14 Active Rail Tracks
Owner: International-Matex Tank Terminals, LLC (IMTT)
400 Poydras Street, Suite 3000
New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 619-2206
Engineer: Wilson & Company
11422 Miracle Hills Drive, Suite 308
Omaha, NE 68154
(402) 496-4070
General Contractor: Huxted Trenchless, LLC
Key Personnel:
Harsha Reddy, Project Manager
Jarrett Nebrich, Superintendent
Jose Hoenes, MTBM Operator
Narciso Faustino, MTBM Operator

Huxted Trenchless installed 660 LF of 72-inch OD Permalok steel casing by microtunneling between two 36-foot-deep shafts. The completed tunnel serves as a protective casing for multiple carrier pipes supplying the FUJI Vegetable Oil facility.

The alignment passed beneath 14 active railroad tracks owned by Union Pacific (UPRR) and BNSF, as well as a Louisiana DOTD right-of-way, in Avondale, Louisiana, adjacent to the Mississippi River. The crew advanced the bore through challenging ground: a high groundwater table and weak soil strata with high organic content and buried wood debris.