Expanding Princess Amalia Harbor’s quay facilities

The Port of Rotterdam Authority has awarded the construction of around 2.4 kilometers of quays and earth-retaining walls in the Princess Amalia Harbor to the HOCHTIEF, Ballast Nedam and Van Oord consortium.

The construction of the quays marks the start of the further development of the harbor located on Maasvlakte II.

The development will increase annual throughput capacity in the port of Rotterdam by four million standard containers (TEU).

“We are paying special attention to reducing emissions during the execution, for instance by using Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO). HVO fuel has a carbon reduction of 89 percent compared with diesel and has lower emissions of particulates, nitrogen and sulphur,” said Mark van der Hoeven, Director Netherlands at Van Oord.

“By deploying equipment powered by HVO as well as electric construction equipment, we are working fully in line with the Port Authority’s ambitions to significantly reduce harmful emissions.”

Project in brief

The new building work will be on either side of the harbor, which is approximately 2.5 kilometers long. In total, this includes 1,825 meters of deep-sea quay, 160 meters of inland shipping quay and 360 meters of earth-retaining walls.

Barring 725 meters, this means that the entire harbor basin, which went into use in 2015, will be enclosed.

The project also includes the construction of a 160-meter waiting area for general use by inland shipping vessels.

The completion of the first 500 meters of quay wall is expected in late 2022, said Van Oord.

The final part of the project will be completed no more than eighteen months later.