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Special crane pontoon developed
A special crane pontoon was developed to install the 70,000 Levvel blocks on the lower embankment of the dike: the Titan. As the name suggests, the 63-meter long pontoon with crawler crane is literally and figuratively a heavyweight. Bert Advocaat, managing director at Baars, explains what makes the Titan special and how it works.
The Afsluitdijk is the first location where the Titan has been allowed to prove itself. Advocaat: "The modular crane pontoon was custom-made for this project and consists of 24 seaworthy coupling pontoons. The Levvel blocks are delivered by the mooring barges lying alongside. The crane, a Sennebogen 875 crawler crane, then places the blocks on the dike with extreme precision. Each block has a number that can be digitally tracked."
A special feature of the Titaan is its heavy step-post construction: this allows the pontoon to move without a pusher in the shallow water along the Afsluitdijk. "The Titaan walks, as it were. It moves forward using spud poles that can step. The spud poles each have a lifting capacity of 120 tons. So you don't need a pusher." In addition to the high construction requirements, the Titan is also designed to be seaworthy. Both on Dutch waters and in international waters. "The pontoon is equipped with four heavy spud poles to remain deployable even in higher waves. Because even on the Wadden Sea and IJsselmeer it can be rough. High tides, heavy gusts of wind, strong waves, even in severe weather conditions the Titan works virtually every day."
The development, delivery and deployment of the Titan is a fine example of craftsmanship and innovation for which Baars BV is known. The small family business has been active in hydraulic engineering since its founding in 1832. Today, it specializes in the rental and sale of modular pontoons, dredging barges, such as elevator barges, split barges and hopper barges especially for (contaminated) sludge. Name a major dredging project anywhere in the world and chances are that a pontoon or dredging barge from Baars will be deployed. "We are a small company which makes us very flexible and solution-oriented. The reason partners like Van Oord, Jan de Nul, Boskalis and Deme like working with us. We are proud that we were also able to use our knowledge and experience for the reinforcement of the Afsluitdijk."
