DCA Europe

Annual Congress

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Recommendation – Education – Networking

Annual Congress

The DCA holds its annual congress in October, to which European and non-European members of the association are invited, but also other interested parties. The event takes place over three days with an arrival day and two days of lectures. In addition to the very interesting lecture programme with top-class technical lectures, the DCA offers its members the opportunity to present their own products and introduce their company at the event. An entertaining social programme accompanies the event, which primarily focuses on the professional exchange among industry professionals and is highly appreciated by the participating members.

Getting young people excited about HDD technology – HDD Image Film

The 28th DCA Annual Conference, which took place last week in Barcelona, was virtually fully booked, just like last year in Leipzig. With over 230 participants from a total of 12 countries, the DCA continues to consolidate its central position in the HDD industry in Europe. It should also be mentioned that the positive development is not only due to the activities of the board and representatives, but that other interest groups have also formed around the DCA to support its objectives. First and foremost, this includes the “Women Empowering HDD” group, which was founded at the end of last year.

After a highly interesting introductory lecture by Kim Jansen, generation expert and social psychologist from the Netherlands, who opened the congress with a lecture on the topic of “Generations @ work”, the DCA offered, as always, very interesting lectures and a varied supporting program on both days, which met with great approval from the participants.

The central point of this year’s event was once again a panel discussion, this time on the topic of “How to attract and keep people in the industry?”. The panel discussion was moderated by journalist Dr. Antje Wöhnke and President Jorn Stoelinga. In addition to the guest speaker, representatives of Generation Z from three DCA member companies took part in the panel discussion. The outcome of the three-hour discussion in the packed conference room was that each generation has its own specific working methods, requirements and goals and that the work ahead can only be mastered by all generations working together on a daily basis, whether men or women.

This was also evident in the new HDD-Image film presented in the run-up to the panel discussion, which was presented to the public at the congress and is intended to promote cooperation in the HDD industry (more on this later).

At the evening event on the terrace of the Hotel Miramar, with a fantastic view of the Mediterranean, the celebrations continued late into the night with music and dancing. The icing on the cake was certainly the DCA logo projected onto the outside wall of the hotel, which was visible from afar.

Friday continued with various HDD project presentations from all over the world, including Germany and Brazil.

The congress documents and presentations as well as further information on the event will soon be available for viewing and downloading in the members’ area.

See you at the 29th edition of the DCA Annual Congress on 8-10 October 2025 in Bamberg, Germany. Please save the date!

These sponsors were involved:

Sponsors of the Annual Congress

Shortage of personnel at companies is the focus

The 27th DCA Annual Congress, which took place last week in Leipzig, was virtually fully booked for the first time with over 210 participants from Europe and the USA. In addition to an attractive congress program, the steady growth in participants is also due to the steady increase in members in Germany and especially throughout Europe. While just over 100 member companies were active in the DCA in 2018, the association will count over 170 member companies by the end of the year. An increase of about 70% in 5 years. Tendency rising!

After an introductory highly interesting lecture by Ralf Schuster, geopolitical expert from Frankfurt am Main, who opened the congress with a presentation on “Geopolitics – an explanation for everything?”, the DCA offered, as always, very interesting lectures and a varied supporting program on both days, which met with great approval among the participants.

The central point of this year’s event was a panel discussion on the upcoming large cable routes (including Südlink, Südostlink) on Thursday afternoon. The panel discussion was moderated by journalist Dr. Antje Wöhnke and President Jorn Stoelinga. During the lively discussion round, which was divided into three sections, topics such as “quality of the tender, technical implementation, duration of approval procedures or the ever-increasing shortage of personnel” were discussed first and foremost. As a result of the approximately three-hour round in the fully occupied congress room of the Hotel The Westin in Leipzig, it could be stated that only through a comprehensive dialogue between project sponsor, planner and client and all other parties involved in the project, the present major tasks can be mastered both in terms of time and technology. The DCA is available as a supporter at any time, so president Jorn Stoelinga.

The topic of “shortage of skilled workers”, which is not only circulating in the HDD sector, was seen by many participants as by far the biggest obstacle to implementation. Delivery times for equipment or materials could be taken into account in planning. The use of machines without personnel is not yet possible despite AI. Among other things, participants called for the establishment of a separate training branch for the next generation of HDD personnel and thus to make the HDD profession as a whole more attractive. This is a task that must also be tackled from the association’s point of view.

At the evening event in the Panorama Tower in the heart of the city, discussions continued for a long time with a great view over Leipzig and initial solutions were found for the problems discussed. On Friday, the conference continued with various HDD project presentations from all over the world, including Peru and the UK.

The conference documents and the presentations as well as further information about the event can be viewed and downloaded in the members area.

See you again at the 28th edition of the DCA Annual Congress on 09 – 11.10.2024 in Barcelona, Spain. Please save the date!

Interest in membership? ALL INFO ABOUT JOINING CAN BE FOUND HERE.

Sponsors Annual Congress
HDD industry an important building block of the energy transition

The 26th DCA Annual Congress in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK was held as an attendance event and was very well attended with over 145 participants from Europe and the USA. After an absence of 10 years – in 2012 Cambridge was the venue – a DCA Annual Congress was again held on the British Isle. More than 10 new members from the UK in the last two years had persuaded the board to move the association’s main event to the birthplace of the famous playwright and lyricist William Shakespeare in England’s Midlands, despite Brexit. All participants quickly agreed that the professional exchange in the industry “face to face” during the congress and in the course of the once again extremely attractive spouse programme cannot be replaced by telephone calls or video conferences. You simply have to be there!

“To drill or not to drill, that’s the question ” was the stylish motto of the conference, or perhaps in other words, “how and by whom should the multitude of HDD projects in the course of the energy transition, the connections of the wind farms, the north-south connections of the high-voltage cables, the upcoming pipeline relocations and not to mention the acute broadband expansion in the next two decades actually be carried out”. The investments that are being made are reaching dimensions that pose a great challenge to the industry in the wake of a constant shortage of skilled workers and supply bottlenecks, but thus also characterise it as an important building block of the energy transition, without these projects cannot in fact be realised. In addition, there are technical challenges for HDD technology and the supplier industry, especially in the area of laying the power lines, which have yet to be solved. These and other questions were discussed and answers sought during the three-day congress.

After an introductory, highly interesting presentation by Heinz Leuters, experienced pilot and flight instructor as well as certified management expert on the topic “Don’t f**k up the Landing” “Mastering risks when they occur – Making situation-specific decisions”, two workshops on the topics The role of drilling fluid in the borehole and Accuracies in HDD drilling were held in addition to interesting presentations on HDD technology. Conclusion: Both topics have by no means been worked through and discussed to the end. Translated with DeepL.com (free version) However, there is a clear tendency to discuss the topic of Accuracy in HDD drillings” in more detail at the next DCA members’ forum in May 2023.

From the series of technically and thematically very appealing presentations on both congress days, the joint presentation by Renzo Chirulli, Vermeer and Thorsten Kaas, Max Streicher GmbH & Co. KG on the subject of “Plug & Drill – The fully electric HDD Jobsite”. Although both companies are factually competing on the market and thus naturally want to place their products and services first and foremost, the two lecturers understood how to present the topic in an excellent manner, factually and technically at a high level, without the focus on their own product becoming apparent here. From the point of view of President Jorn Stoelinga and his board, the lecture was a living association work in the sense of the DCA family! Many thanks for that!

The congress documents and the presentations of the workshops as well as further information on the event will soon be available for viewing and downloading in the members’ area.

See you again at the 27th edition of the DCA Annual Congress on 4-6 October 2023 in Leipzig in the east of the Republic. Please note the date!

Program of the Annual Congress:
Sponsors of the Annual Congress

HDD industry faces major challenges in Germany

The 25th DCA Annual Congress in Bonn, Königswinter again took place as a live event and was able to report a new record with over 160 participants. They all felt that meeting “face to face” is by far the best way for a professional exchange in our industry and during the again very attractive social program.

The event, which was held under the motto “From Pipe to Cable”, was dominated by the many and varied tasks facing the HDD industry as a result of the energy transition and the expansion of broadband in Germany. The investments that will be made in both areas over the next few decades are reaching dimensions that the industry has never seen before in this concentrated form. HDD will play an important role in both broadband expansion and the laying of power lines from north to south in Germany. This situation will not be different in other member countries. in other member countries. As things stand at present, the capacities of qualified planning and civil engineering companies available on the market will not easily be able to meet the demand. The challenges that still have to be overcome from a technical point of view, including the laying of power cables in crossing areas using HDD, were given a brief foretaste in the presentation by Tennet.

After a highly interesting introductory lecture by Prof. Dr. Martin Korte from the Technical University of Braunschweig on the topic “Shaping the future – paradoxes of decision-making”, two workshops on the topics “Subsoil parameters” and “Drilling fluids and cuttings, disposal and recycling” were held in addition to the lectures on the aforementioned topics. Intense discussions took place in the workshops. Conclusion: Both topics are far from being finalised.

The congress documents and the presentations of the workshops as well as further information on the event will soon be available for viewing and downloading in the members’ area.

Downloads German:

DCA_Jahrestagung_Programm_2021

Downloads English:

DCA_Annual_Congress_Program_2021

Im Zeichen des Umweltschutzes

DCA executive secretary Dietmar Quante welcomed about 145 participants at the 24th annual congress on 16th to 18th October 2019 in Krakow. The environmental factor in particular was the focus of attention, including drilling in nature reserves and electrically operated drilling rigs.

In addition to the lecture programme, the DCA also offered an interesting spouse programme for all participants. In addition to a visit to the city of Krakow, which is well worth seeing, and a guided tour on the subject of “Jewish Life in Krakow”, including a visit to Oskar Schindler’s factory, the evening event took place on Thursday at the Wieliczka 135 m salt mine in the Warsaw Festival Hall.

In Poland, a lot has happened in the field of HDD, especially in recent years. This was demonstrated by Roland Kośka of Gaz-System S.A. in his lecture. Over the past ten years, the gas network operator has continuously expanded its network, using HDD in particular in addition to the Microtunneling and Direct Pipe processes (in more recent projects). In the past, however, inadequate equipment, faulty planning and lack of construction supervision made the work more difficult. More uniform standards and significantly more competition on the Polish HDD market have considerably improved the situation in recent years, according to Kośka (…)

Read more in our members’ area.