On the Lyngen peninsula, located at 69° north in the arctic region of Northern Norway, you find the small village Furuflaten. Here, tucked between the Lyngen Alps, Lyngsdalen Valley and the Lyngen Fjord, you find the worlds northernmost Krah Pipes manufacturer - Haplast AS.

While the Lyngen alps are world famous for spectacular alpine skiing, glaciers, and clear blue lakes, Furuflaten is well known as home to the region’s largest industry hub. Since the late 1940’s, Furuflaten has manufactured many different commodities such as waterpipes of wood, garments, lumber, steel constructions, mechanical products, aluminum and plastic products, building elements, incineration toilets and marine waste products. In fact, today the village has only 280 permanent residents while the industry hub employs 130 people in total - and have a total turnover of NOK 300 million (approx. USD 33 million). Haplast alone employs 44 people and reached a turnover of NOK 135 million (approx. USD 12,5 million) in 2022. Since the Haplast factory was opened in 1961, one of our strengths has been to learn and adapt. Learn from the market needs and adapt our products accordingly. Throughout six decades, the company has accumulated a huge amount of industry know how. Our dedicated staff have seen the possibilities and advantages that lies in Krah Pipes, and we have invested in product development.

Based on this we have developed a quite unique range of innovative products. Today Haplast manufactures PE based products within four main categories: Water and wastewater, transportation infrastructure, fish farming and ventilation. The Krah pipes serves as main component for products in all these categories. Yes, Haplast manufactures Krah Pipes as just that, pipes. But we make our turnover by selling more than pipes. Haplast creates durable solutions to our customers in the form of water and wastewater basins, chemical, sedimentation and silage tanks, culverts, bridges, road pipes and ventilation pipes to name some of our main products. We have delivered infrastructure solutions to hospitals, schools, road projects, fish processing factories, public water and sewage systems and many more private and public projects. We manufacture all our products from plastic granules to finished plug-and-play solutions.

The Krah technology allows us to manufacture double-walled pipes, and thus meet both industry standards and public requirements. In addition, our products can be both reused and recycled. Once redundant the product can be reused in another project. The PE can be recycled with full traceability and history documentation, something that our customers are increasingly demanding. And of course, the Krah pipes allow us to manufacture lasting, leakage free solutions. In our experience, there are many good solutions for containing and transporting water in leakage free pipes or containers. However, not as many solutions ensure no leakage into the contained water. We have seen many basin and tank products that contains water, but where both dirt and chemicals from the surroundings find their way into the water. The Krah Pipes however are 100% leakage free and successfully keeps clean water crystal clear. This property, together with the strength, durability and adaptability of the Krah Pipes and our accumulated know-how has promted us to develop a few innovations from Krah Pipes.

We deliver our products as plug-and-play solutions - ready to be connected to other piping infrastructure. One of the key take-aways from our customers is how easy it is to install the Haplast products compared to for instance concrete based solutions.

Haplast water basin

The Øvre Russvik basin and extension tower was delivered to a Nordkraft Hydroelectric plant. The Haplast water basin delivered for this project is 3 meters in height, DN/ID2500 mm in diameter. Because of the snow conditions during winter, the exposed environment and risk of avalanches, the contractor had to install an extension tower to safely access the water basin during winter. Due to the inaccessible location at 610 msl, the basin and extension tower had to be flown in by helicopter. The extension tower is 5 meters tall, DN/ID2500mm in diameter and weighs in at 1280 kg. The KRAH profile for this product is CPR 4/4/4 CC110 75PP and has a ring stiffness of SN 2.

We manufacture the Haplast water basin with a cast anchoring plate in concrete to counteract buoyancy and a bespoke system for anchoring valve connections and other fittings. The basins are fully assembled in our factory and all pipe entrances are fully welded. We ensure safety requirements are met for necessary access point such as manholes and ladders. The basins are tested for leakage before they leave the factory.

Haplast wastewater basin

The Stormoen wastewater basin was delivered to Perpetuum Landfill. The landfill facility is required to monitor the wastewater in the landfill ground. Our solution helps them contain, measure and monitor pollution in the ground water. We assemble our basins in our factory and deliver them ready to install on site as a plug and play solution. In fact, it only took two men 15 minutes to install and adjust the wastewater basin. Because of the integrated pipes welded into the basin, it’s easy to connect the basin to other piping infrastructure on site. This Haplast wastewater basin is 7 meters tall and has a diameter of DN/ID1600 mm. The KRAH profile used is SQ1 and the ring stiffness is SN 2. Due to the height, this product has two internal welded PE decks and three ladders for safe access. To counteract buoyancy the basin has a molded sandwich PE base. Customized water flow solution based on project specifications is fully welded.

Haplast sludge separator/sedimentation tank

The Stette sludge separator was delivered to Ålesund Municipality on the west coast of Norway. The tank is a sedimentation tank, which separates sludge from gray water. The sludge remains in the tank and the municipality can extract the sludge a few times a year, while gray water flows through to the deep sea or to a water treatment plant. It measures DN/ID3000mm in diameter and has a length of 27,5 meters. Because of its size, the Stette tank was too long for road transportation and was shipped to Ålesund by boat. Our factory lays by the banks of the Lyngen fjord and close to a deepwater dock. Hence, we can deliver large products efficiently to our customers even by boat or tow. The Stette sludge separator has three separate chamber compartments with fully welded inner walls and 6 manholes. It is manufactured as KRAH profile CPR 8/4/8 and ring stiffness SN 2. The double walls fulfil public and industry standards for leakage protection and isolates for the Perma frost – a necessity in the Nordic countries. The Haplast sedimentation solutions works with hydraulic drop throughout the system. We deliver sedimentation tanks, valve housing tanks with control valves and sludge storage tanks for cleansing of solid particles from sewage systems. The tanks can be made in custom lengths with bespoke chamber and water flow solutions.

Haplast road culvert

The Kvænangsfjellet road culvert is 64 meters long and has a diameter of 2500 mm. We delivered this project in sections of 6 meters and the structure was assembled on site with socket and tip – in this case fully welded on site. The Krah profile is PR+PR 75 PP 5/6/5/6 CC120. The ring stiffness is SN8, which is approved by the Norwegian Directorate of Public Roads. The culvert was manufactured with solid ends and oblique cuts for a mor seamless result. This is highly appreciated by the contractor because the culverts will integrate better into the surroundings. Haplast has manufactured culverts for small bridges, road underpasses for animals and people, as transfer culverts for water or as infrastructure culverts. End arrangements, external washout stoppers, sand stoppers for fish and other arrangements can me made according to the customers specifications.

Haplast ventilation system

Haplast has delivered KRAH pipes for underground ventilation to many projects in Norway, a market segment which has been a good business over the last ten years. Hjelset Hospital and Stavanger Hospital, and the largest public bath, Tøyenbadet, in Oslo - the capitol of Norway, are some examples. Ventilation towers and pipes was manufactured based on the contractors’ specifications within the limitations of the KRAH pipe technology, and usually with a ring stiffness of 2-4. As always with Haplast products, the sections are delivered as plug and play modules, with socket and tip and can if necessary be welded in house or on site.

Lena Steffensen,
Haplast AS