Quays at New Lock in Terneuzen fitted with 48 heavy traffic hatches

Much of the engineering around the New Lock in Terneuzen takes place underground. On all quays there are entrances to areas below so that cellars, pumps, hydraulics and other technical areas can be reached. These accesses must be able to be safely closed. The hatches used to do this must be heavy enough to support freight traffic, must be neatly concealed within the road surface and, very importantly, must not let any water in.

Wemeco was commissioned by contractor combination Sassevaart to install as many as 48 heavy traffic hatches. Richard van Heuven, co-owner and director of Wemeco, talks to us about the delivery his company was privileged to make.

D400 traffic class

"The hatches we have been asked to supply at the New Lock are type wemDeck wemDeck T1, heavy-traffic hatches in class D400. Truck-proof, in other words," Van Heuven opens the conversation. "The unique thing about these hatches is that they have a gutter for rainwater drainage. This makes them 100% waterproof." The wemDeck T1 shutters are supplied in stainless steel 316, including a black coating. "The daylight size of the shutters is from 800 mm x 800 mm, up to a daylight size of 3000 mm x 2000 mm. The small hatches are simply operated by hand, the large hatches are hydraulically operated, with a switch box."

The large hatches are sized to fit fittings through. "Think of a pump for example," Van Heuven explains. "We will make the first delivery in April; we are still in the design phase right now. As a basis we use a standard wemDeck hatch, supplemented with customer-specific wishes."

More and more work is being done underground

As well-known as wemDeck hatches may be, when it comes to projects, hatches are often the closing item on the budget. "We started producing hatches ten years ago because we saw that more and more municipalities and water boards were constructing underground facilities. This created a need for a standard product, guaranteed to be good," Van Heuven said. "We made it a specialization. This prevents clients from asking the local blacksmith to make a hatch without expertise in seals, force calculations and certification."

At the New Lock, Wemeco will soon supply wemDeck hatches that are flat, fitted with tear plate. "Of course, we can also supply this type of hatch fillable, paving can be added to that," Van Heuven explains. "It is important that the hatches are as unobtrusive as possible, can be driven over with ease, that they function faultlessly and are certified."

In Terneuzen, shutters are installed that are equipped with a fall-back security system. "We are talking about a three-point locking system that is burglar-resistant and can be unlocked in the open position without having to bend over," Van Heuven says in conclusion.