Port of the future

In 1997 studies for the project Maasvlakte 2 started; a project to increase the capacity of the port of Rotterdam and to strengthen the port’s position internationally. Due to the growing attention for and awareness of the importance of sustainability, the Port of Rotterdam Authority aspires to make Maasvlakte 2 the greenest port in the world.

Tiedo Vellinga, director environment monitoring Maasvlakte 2, is convinced of the importance of the economy in addition to the social desirability of sustainability: ”Sustainability is an economic driver, it brings innovation. We grow, get an increasingly larger foot print, but the environmental capacity remains the same. In order to avoid limits we make choices for a green growth, but with an economic motive.”

Sustainable savings

Maasvlakte 2 has been constructed by the consortium PUMA, a project organisation formed by the Dutch companies Van Oord and Boskalis. The construction started in 2008. Dirk Hamer, project director PUMA: ”The collaboration in the joint venture PUMA was excellent, but also the relationship with Port of Rotterdam Authority was constructive and contributed to the successful realisation of this mega project.” Their assignment was to be as sustainable and innovative as possible within a certain budget and conditions partially imposed by the environmental impact study. For PUMA this meant the use of modern, clean and energy-efficient vessels and a limitation on the quantity of sand extraction from the seabed per year to limit silt turbidity in the sea. Hamer: ”PUMA had shown in the tender phase that Maasvlakte 2 could be constructed well within the imposed conditions. Experiences and measurements from previous projects were used for this purpose.”

To save cost and environmental impact 20,000 concrete blocks, each weighing 40 ton, and two million tonnes of rock from the original breakwater of the first Maasvlakte have been reused for the new sea defence with a length of 3,5 kilometres. Another asset is the 7,5 kilometres of soft sea defence that consist of sand with a coarser grain, so less sand was required. The coarser sand also results in less maintenance. The sand is extracted from the seabed up to 20 metres below existing bottom level. Next to saving cost, it also reduces the impact on the environment because a smaller area of the seabed is disturbed. Vellinga: ”The sand is won nearby, which reduces the impact of transport. Next to this, we have applied a relief, small reefs if you like, as an experiment in a corner of the sand mining area of which we expect it will contribute to a larger biomass. This has never been done before. We hope that as a result more different species will return to this habitat.”

Zero emission

Vellinga: ”To become the most sustainable port in the world we continue to keep our course. The demands for the industries on the Maasvlakte 2 are high: the companies to be eligible to locate here have to be frontrunners in the area of sustainability. Therefore, the terminals have committed themselves to construct buildings with zero emission, for example. But also to a modal shift in hinterland transportation in favour of rail and inland shipping. By the time the port is taken into use only clean trucks will gain access to the area.”

Anne Kregting