Germany: Züblin building Offshore Terminal Bremerhaven (OTB)

The construction contract, with a value of approx. € 120 million, comprises the terminal (quays and hinterland), terminal access and retrofitting of the corresponding levees. “In Züblin and Hirdes, we have found two strong partners with all the right prerequisites to realise this very challenging contract according to our needs,” says Robert Howe, managing director of bremenports.

The heart of the project is the construction of the approximately 500 m long OTB quay. “The quay will not be built as a conventional combined sheet piling wall consisting of king piles and intermediary piles,” Howe explains. “Instead, the king piles will be replaced in this project with 159 steel pipes.” The pipes have a diameter of 1,820 mm, are 30 to 39 m long and weigh a total of about 5,000 t. The intermediary piles weigh a total of about 750 t, while the anchor piles with a length of up to 51 m have a combined weight of about 1,300 t.

The foundation piles for the heavy-duty slabs consist of around 630 cast-in-situ concrete piles with a total length of about 16 km. Construction of the approximately 25-hectare terminal will require the pumping of about 2.6 million m³ of sand from the river Weser. The sand will be dredged by hopper dredgers as part of the usual Weser dredging works. Construction of the port facility will also involve pouring about 18,600 m³ of concrete.

The preparatory works are currently underway. OTB is to be handed over to the terminal operator, BLG Logistics, in late 2018/early 2019.