First phase of the widening of the Yangtzekanaal complete, next phase started

The first phase of the widening of the Yangtzekanaal is complete. The contractor consortium of Hakkers, De Klerk and Van Oord has completed a new tugboat quay with twelve berths and shore power facilities. To this end, the Yangtzekanaal was widened on the south side over a length of 500 meters. The second phase of the project has now commenced. The consortium is now working on the second phase of the project: the construction of a 1,450-meter quay with twenty new berths for inland shipping including shore power facilities.

The largest container vessels sail through the Yangtzekanaal to and from the APMT 2 and RWG terminals in the Prinses Amaliahaven. Both terminals are currently expanding their capacities. This means there will soon be more traffic in the Yangtzekanaal and space needs to be made for vessels — which these days are becoming larger and larger — to pass through. The navigable channel (the bed) of the Yangtzekanaal will be widened along its entire length over the coming years. After the project is completed, the Yangtzekanaal and therefore the access to the Maasvlakte will be ready to safely and efficiently welcome the yet-to-be-developed next generation of container vessels.

Second phase initiated

After the first phase was delivered, the second phase was immediately initiated. This phase involves the construction of a 1450 quay wall to the west of the existing Antarcticakade with 20 extra inland shipping berths, in addition to the 10 existing berths. A heavy load zone will also be constructed – for occasional transshipment of freight or specific materials. The inland shipping berths in front of the quay wall will have a maintained depth of NAP -6.80m. To widen the navigable channel and realize the inland shipping berths, 1.4 million cubic meters of sand will be dredged, which will be reused for land reclamation on Maasvlakte 2. These works will make two-way traffic possible for container vessels up to 24,000 TEU.

Sustainable quay wall

The top of the new quay wall will be constructed with around 10,000 m³ of geopolymer concrete. This material contains no cement and reduces carbon emissions by around 50% compared with traditional concrete. The project is therefore in line with the ambitions of Port of Rotterdam Authority to make the construction and maintenance of port infrastructure even more sustainable. Port Authority maintains around 80 kilometers of quay walls and 200 kilometers of slopes. In the coming years, further investments will be made in new and replacement quay walls. It is expected that geopolymer concrete will be used more and more often in these types of projects.