Established in 1987, Hydra Arc has grown from a supplier to specialised welders into a leading refinery maintenance, turnaround specialist, steel fabrication and construction company, operating in the petrochemicals, construction, mining and power generation industries.

Training, innovation, the ability to embrace new technologies and an uncompromising approach to quality and safety, ensure that Hydra Arc is able to grow its business locally and internationally. The Secunda, Mpumalanga-based group is currently involved in several major contracts for clients, such as petrochemicals group Sasol. At Sasol Secunda, Hydra Arc is undertaking assembly and fabrication work for the coal tar filtration east project. It is also fabricating a gunk stabiliser, pipe spools and ducting for the seventeenth oxygen train.

The company is also fabricating water tanks so that local government can supply water to rural areas. Hydra Arc’s equipment includes, among others, a double column horizontal boring mill, which it believes may be the world’s largest; a vertical machining centre; a bridge-type machine centre; a post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) oven of 70 m × 10 m, with a temperature range of up to 750 °C; and a second PWHT oven of 15 m × 6 m, with a temperature range of 950 °C. Hydra Arc has maintained an International Register of Certificated Auditors 5 health, safety and environmental rating for the past nine years and previously held the NOSA equivalent for 12 years.

The group recently achieved its American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) certification mark (ASME U and U2 stamps) and is in the process of acquiring the CE mark, which falls under the European PED H1 directive, which relates to the safety of pressure equipment throughout Europe. The ISO 9001 and 3834-2 certified company employs about 1 900 people and operates from a 100 000 m2 site, of which 75 000 m2 is under cover.