Pipeline corrosion today has become a significant reason of concern. In fact, a recent report on pipeline corrosion puts the total annual cost of corrosion in 2016, including direct and indirect costs, at over $1.1 trillion in the U.S. The figure has only gone up since then, creating an additional burden of concern over public safety.

Established to mitigate this challenge is Atmospheric Corrosion Specialists (ACS), a Virginia-based, woman-owned, and operated anti-corrosion specialist. The company has been helping pipeline networks, especially in the natural gas industry, overcome the effects of atmospheric corrosion for 16 years and counting. With detailed knowledge of coating products and pipeline hardware available in today’snatural gas industry, ACS serves a range of large utilities on the East Coast, including Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Florida.

Founded in 2006 with its operations limited to the Mid-Atlantic region, ACS has now expanded to the Northeast, Midwest, Southeast, and Southwest regions of the U.S. As a prominent player in the pipeline maintenance and corrosion prevention space, ACS puts its clients’ needs upfront and continually looks for innovative solutions to complete the projects safely and on time. The company has also been vetted by the likes of Power Advocate, iBuy, Avetta, ITS, Energy World Net (EWN), Veriforce, Iberdrolla and GoSupply.

“Our mission is to meet clients’ corrosion protection and rehabilitation needs with integrity by providing the highest quality turnkey services, delivered on time and budget. Change orders are our exception—not our rule” says Christina Book, the CEO at ACS.

An Ultimate Solution for Pipeline Inspection

ACS’ core competency lies in helping clients with corrosion on above-ground pipeline mains and any other exposed section of the network. The company provides natural gas distribution companies with detailed atmospheric corrosion surveys, remediation services, and associated specialized equipment. Its corrosion inspection and monitoring equipment help clients work on hard-to-access pipeline crossings at highway bridges, railroads, or rivers, where the clients may not have the resources to complete the work with an in-house team.

ACS’ inspection services include ultra-sound and pit gauge readings, digital documentation, and report documentation of the overall condition of the gas main and its hardware. ACS can also provide repair recommendations and written estimates and deploy its team to complete all necessary repairs. ACS also removes abandoned pipes and installs new above-ground pipelines when requested. Furthermore, the company performs inspections and remediation services on residential/commercial meters and regulator stations as well as gas meterprotection devices. (ACS) also delivers leak detection services and third party NACE CIP coating inspectors.

“We offer an extensive drone inspection program, which offers drone patrols, leak detection,‘right-of-way’ (ROW) monitoring, gas leak detection, and immediate monitoring for any sort of encroachments such as vegetation, constructions, etcetera,” adds Christina.

ACS has partnered with Aerial Production Services (APS), a leader in providing robust aerial inspection solutions, to conduct these drone-based atmospheric corrosion surveys. They (APS) are one of the few companies in the country with a ‘beyond visual line of sight ’waiver from the FAA. As a rare permit, the authorization allows their drones to fly longer missions, making ACS / APS more effective in inspecting additional mileage each day. Subsequently, the company can offer visual inspection and leak detection on critical assets, right of way mapping and monitoring, and LIDAR photography capabilities.

Our mission is to meet clients’ corrosion protection and rehabilitation needs with integrity by providing the highest quality turnkey services, delivered on time and on-budget

By adopting a proactive approach in helping clients comply with regulatory requirements, ACS reduces their budgets as part of its services. For instance, the company recently supported one of its largest customers in preparing an annual compliance audit by employing one of its team members to help them with their pre-audit. Not only did this help the client comply with all the necessary regulations but also enabled them to reduce the time and efforts spent on compliance, ultimately allowing them to reduce their overall operational cost.

Safety is Never Overlooked at ACS

ACS maintains an ardent focus on employee safety. The company always keeps its workforce safe, especially when working in difficult situations and locations. “We work to ensure our team’s safety every day and ascertain that they return home to their families just as they came into work,” adds Christina. ACS’ dedication to ensuring the highest of safety standards has been demonstrated time and time again.

For instance, in one of its recent projects, ACS helped a client remove a 1200-foot gas main from an active train bridge over the Cumberland River in the Nashville area. Safety was a major concern and priority during this project due to the bridge’s height and the presence of an active train track at the worksite. Each employee was designated with a crucial and demanding role to play, ensuring that the project team is always precise in its movements, clearing the tracks within 30 minutes of any notification.

As a result, the project concluded without train delays or track closures, demonstrating the teamwork at ACS, and their commitment to completing the project safely and on time without creating any hassles for the public or their customers.

ACS is a team of proud professionals that always puts its employees first, and the company’s leadership remains cognizant of their family time.

To that end, the company will go above and beyond to ensure that an employee gets home from a worksite, even if they need to fly them home for a family event.

Out-of-the-Box Customer Service Approach

With its thorough range of services and keen attention to customer engagement, ACS prides itself on having a very direct, hands-on approach to providing their services to clients and specializing in innovative approaches to challenging crossings. The company’s management team has a combined experience of over 120 years in the corrosion industry, and its technicians have received advanced training through NACE, including CIP I and II along with and CP training. They’re also provided with the latest and most advanced bridge access equipment for corrosion inspection and resolution. As a very hands-on company with less than 50 employees, they take a very personal approach to service. From the moment a customer comes to them with a problem, ACS will always send someone in to personally view the problem and go beyond looking at photographs or lines on a map. The team will subsequently regroup, hash out options that will address the issue, and work with the client to find a cost-effective and on-budget solution.

ACS works closely with its vendors and suppliers to meet or exceed customers’ expectations while encouraging employees to offer suggestions or alternatives to complete a project. The company regularly meets with its suppliers, vendors, and even competitors to discuss opportunities and the latest advancements in the corrosion field. These discussions are beneficial to all parties and add a behind-the-scenes value to customers.

Such a focus on customer service, combined with a team of dedicated professionals, always drives ACS to explore new avenues of success. The company aims to expand their presence and range of services to other markets, targeting other areas inside and outside of the natural gas industry. Additionally, it continues to work in the evolving power and energy sector, working with customers to meet their ever-changing needs.

“Our greatest strength is our employees. We have an amazing team in place consisting of leadership, managers, laborers, and support staff, all of whom add to our success. Furthermore, our NACE-certified team professionally and safely handles all our clients’ corrosion needs, enabling us to gain a valued reputation as being an effective team with a personal touch,” Christina concludes.