Construction of bank protection at temporary unloading sites

To minimize inconvenience to the surrounding area, construction consortium Mekante Diek is working on the dyke reinforcement between Tiel and Waardenburg largely from the water and via temporary unloading locations. The foundation for two of these unloading locations was laid by Van Dijke Maritime Services with its 'Green Award' crane vessel.

Van Dijke Maritime Services is a century-old family business, founded in 1885. Dick van Dijke proudly tells us that his son is also already "apprenticed," so succession is assured. "We specialize with our crane vessel in mainly all kinds of lifting work on the water," he says. It ranges from setting sheet piling or piles to bank work and machine transport over water. We are a regular customer of Ploegam (which together with Dura Vermeer and Van Oord forms Mekante Diek, ed.) on projects and also regularly transport heavy machinery from project to project by water."

Green Award

Van Dijke Maritime Services' crane ship has engines according to the latest technology. "Our crane ship is certified with a Green Award, a hallmark for ships that meet high safety and environmental requirements," Dick explains. "With the help of special software, we can measure the CO₂-emissions calculate by engine and at different speeds. This is because the speed varies for each activity. In this way, the main contractor gets a correct representation of the CO₂-emissions in kilograms for the work performed."

Bank protection

Here on Mekante Diek, Van Dijke Maritime Services laid the groundwork for the shore protection of two unloading sites, consisting of zinc pieces and poured stone. "Zinc pieces are large mats of willow and cloth and act as bottom protection," says Dick. "They were assembled ashore and then picked up with our crane barge and sunk to the exact position using GPS coordinates. The sinkers were then covered with poured stone, which we also took care of. Not only unloading approximately 3,500 tons of bulk stone, but also modeling the dam or bank."

Versatile in terms of deployment

Meanwhile, the two unloading sites are fully operational. Ships sail to and fro with clay and other raw materials. Heavy equipment is also moved by water as much as possible, for which Van Dijke Maritime Services is also called in. "And in the preliminary stages, soil samples were also taken from our ship," Dick adds. "In that respect, we are incredibly versatile in our services and, if possible, try to make as much work with work as possible. And of course we hope to be deployed again later on at the end of the project to dismantle the unloading sites."