Dredging commences following quay construction in Rotterdam’s Prinses Amaliahaven container terminal

Dutch marine projects company Van Oord has deployed two of its vessels to dredge the harbour at the Prinses Amaliahaven container terminal located on Maasvlakte in Rotterdam.

A consortium of Van Oord, HOCHTIEF, and Ballast Nedam has constructed 2.4 kilometres of new quay wall at the facility to expand container capacity at Rotterdam. The cutter suction dredger Biesbosch and the trailing suction hopper dredger Vox Apolonia are dredging the new quays to a depth of more than 20 metres below sea level.

In total, 1,825 metres of deep-sea quay, 160 metres of inland shipping quay, and 360 metres of earth-retaining walls have been created.

Van Oord said the development of Prinses Amaliahaven will potentially increase annual throughput capacity in the Port of Rotterdam by four million TEUs.

The dredged sand from Prinses Amaliahaven will be used in the adjacent Prinses Alexiahaven facility, where Van Oord is reclaiming 45 hectares of new land. Besides sand, 1.5 million cubic metres of silt and clay that is not suitable for land reclamation will be dredged.

Vox Apolonia will transport the silt to sea, after which the vessel would in principle return empty. Combining the work of both projects, Vox Apolonia is now dredging sand after depositing the silt and clay and transporting it to Prinses Alexiahaven to then continue dredging in Prinses Amaliahaven.

For the underwater surveying and inspection works, Van Oord’s newest remotely operated vehicle (ROV) is being used. It is the first project on which this underwater craft is being deployed.

The ROV is equipped with a high-resolution 4K camera and sonar technology, enabling it to carry out reliable inspection under all kinds of conditions.

Van Oord said the use of the ROV can reduce physical diving activities on this project by more than 80 per cent.