Crushing in deep water

Rotterdam’s city council decided at the time – the current quay dates back to 1922 – that no warehouses could be built in this area, only residential villas, mostly inhabited by captains and shipowners. In recent years, the City of Rotterdam has been busy turning the Westerkade into a green boulevard, a place where people can stroll, recreate and grab a terrace. During the reconstruction of the quay wall – which is now halfway complete – they encountered a problem. Deep underwater, a row of long bracing piles protruded diagonally into the river, making it difficult to place sheet piling there. Van Schie was asked to “crush” the heavy wooden piles. This is now being done with a special drilling crane from a certified pontoon. It is a test, a difficult job, precisely because of the angle at which the piles must be crushed and the length of the piles. They are about twenty meters long and stick deep into the river bottom. The location is quite special, because the water never stands still here and the Nieuwe Maas is in open connection with the sea, so the difference between low and high tide is also clearly noticeable here. It was therefore decided to build up the pontoon (with drilling crane) at Stormpolder, Van Schie’s own site, and sail it to the Westerkade, nine kilometers downstream.