A 1.2 km automated container quay built on a man-made polder.
What we did
Hextal served as the lead civil engineering contractor, responsible for all structural design, ground engineering, materials procurement and on-site construction management. Our scope encompassed full lifecycle delivery from mobilisation through commissioning, with integrated environmental monitoring and stakeholder coordination throughout.
Every project begins with a problem no one has solved before.
The challenge
Construction of a 1.2 km automated container quay on reclaimed land required 2.1 million cubic metres of sand fill placed with centimetre precision in an active shipping channel. Tidal windows for marine operations were limited to 4 hours per cycle. The Port of Rotterdam Authority imposed strict environmental conditions on turbidity levels, requiring real-time monitoring of suspended sediment in a harbour that handles 14 million TEU annually.
The solution
Hextal engineered a caisson dry dock that allowed precast concrete sections to be floated into position during slack tide, eliminating the need for heavy-lift crane vessels during the quay wall phase. A trailing suction hopper dredger with adaptive discharge control maintained turbidity below 25 mg/l throughout the fill campaign. The automated crane rails were cast in-situ using laser-guided slipform pavers, achieving the 2mm tolerance required by the terminal operator.
Mobilisation
Design
Procurement
Construction
Commissioning
Led by Ir. Willem de Graaf
The project team comprises 340 engineers, site supervisors and specialist subcontractors drawn from across the Hextal Group. Core disciplines include structural engineering, geotechnics, materials science, environmental management and digital delivery. The team operates from a dedicated site office with full BIM coordination capability.
Programme oversight is provided by the Group Executive Committee through quarterly stage-gate reviews. Health and safety performance is reported weekly to the Chief Operating Officer.
Meet the leadership teamMore from the portfolio.
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13.369°E
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2.174°E
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