Specialist on the border of land and water

For more than 70 years, Verboon Maasland has been "balancing" on the border between land and water. "We keep ditches and canals navigable, excavate (sometimes very deep) building pits, improve quays and provide for the construction of new nature and special projects in infrastructure," says director Ruud van Wijk with appropriate pride. 

Verboon Maasland focuses on three areas of expertise: civil engineering, dredging and specialized projects. "In GWW, we work particularly regionally on quay improvements, nature development, shoring projects and additional infrastructure," Van Wijk clarifies. "For example, we are very active in De Lier (South Holland) with the preparation of plots for construction and housing. We are also realizing various hydraulic structures in and for the municipality of Maasluis and we are now working on the tender for upgrading the Krimpenerwaard for the province of South Holland."

Dredging

Verboon Maasland's dredging equipment is deployed throughout the Netherlands with occasional trips to Belgium. Van Wijk: "We then contribute to improving water quality for water boards and provinces. We are currently commissioned by KWS Romers to dredge and deepen the Passagegeul drainage canal in Zeeland. We are also providing the quays with new stone revetments. Soon we will start dredging the Mussel-Aa canal in Groningen to restore the drainage capacity and improve water quality. The excess silt will be removed and further processed in depots. We are also regularly active with inner-city dredging work, for which we have special sliding vessels in the fleet."

Creative and resourceful

Speaking of specialized equipment, according to Van Wijk, Verboon Maasland has a very high degree of expert knowledge and a very creative and resourceful technical department. "Not infrequently we adapt our equipment to the local situation. A good example of this is the adapted equipment pieces for our large wire crane that we deployed on the Blankenburg connection to be able to excavate the cofferdam between the many supports and outriggers. This is work that we classify under our 'specialist projects' discipline, as is our contribution to the A16 Groene Boog project. The construction pit of the Lammermarkt parking garage in Leiden was also one of the outer category, another project that was awarded because of our solution-oriented approach."

Electric land crawler crane

Verboon Maasland is going full steam ahead to make itself as sustainable as possible as a company. "We are investing heavily in low- and zero-emission equipment, such as our 100% electric cutter suction dredger that was recently put into service or the all-electric 105-ton wire crane. Really a big boy," Van Wijk assures. "It is the first land crawler wire crane in the Netherlands that can run electrically on shore power. Incidentally, the machine is designed in such a way that we can always work with a backup generator, should shore power not be present or sufficient. And so we are still working on a number of investment plans to keep Verboon Maasland healthy in the distant future and ensure continuity and profitability."