Rotterdam Maasvlakte 2 breakwater to use 20,000 huge cement blocks

ROTTERDAM port authorities have announced that the first 40 metres of the new block dam that will protect its Maasvlakte 2 port expansion project from the onslaught of the waves is now in place.


This comes after a special crane, the Blockbuster, started work on this breakwater at the beginning of the month, which will be built in the sea 50 metres off the coast. The block dam is expected to be completed by the beginning of next year. At that stage, 20,000 concrete blocks from the old block dam of the Maasvlakte would have been moved to their new position.


Construction work on the quay wall is also on schedule, a statement from port authorities said. The Rotterdam World Gateway (RWG) deep-sea quay and barge/feeder quay are scheduled for completion this year. A lot of work is also said to be going into building the quays for the new APM Terminals facility.


"The emphasis of the work on Maasvlakte 2 is currently on the construction of the hard sea defences, the construction of the quays for the first container terminals and the preparations for the construction of infrastructure, such as roads, railway lines and cables and pipelines," it said.


For the hard sea defences, PUMA, in collaboration with the Port of Rotterdam Authority, has designed a stony dune and a block dam. The core of the stony dune is made up of sand, covered on the outside with a thick layer of fist-size rubble, the so-called "cobbles." The stony dune will have a height of NAP (Amsterdam Ordnance Datum) +14 metres.


The hard sea defences of Maasvlakte 2 have been designed to withstand the type of storm that is said to occur once every 10,000 years. On the sea side of the stony dune, a block dam with a height of around three metres above the NAP will be built in the sea. This block dam will ensure that the waves break, so that they hit the stony dune from behind with less force. Owing to this structure, a lagoon will be formed behind the block dam, providing an area for flora and fauna to grow, it said.


In January 2010, a start was made on the construction of the quays for the Rotterdam World Gateway container terminal. This summer, work on the first 500 of the total 1,250 metres of deep-sea quay will have been completed. The majority of the fenders and bollards are already in place and the land behind the quay is currently being raised. The concrete construction for RWG's 600-metre barge/feeder quay is already complete. This quay will be delivered after the summer.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)