Composite roadways: a sustainable choice in every way

We already knew that choosing composite road plates as an alternative to the steel road plate is incredibly durable. No tillage is required and flora and fauna are preserved. But did you also know that Ferex installs composite road plates in a sustainable way and cleans them in an environmentally responsible manner?

In a relatively short time, Ferex's composite driving plates have become a household name in the market. "In recent years we have been working to expand our range considerably," says Sanne Buitenhuis, marketer at Ferex. That expansion was made possible in part by the new premises. The new building is fully equipped and allows Ferex to operate even more sustainably than before.

Durable road plate washing plant

Among other things, the new building is equipped with a special washing tunnel. "We developed a sustainable row plate washing installation in cooperation with a machine builder," says Jordi Rodijk, logistics contact at Ferex. "The cleaning process is super important for composite driving plates. Previously we did that by hand, with the new installation the cleaning process is fully automated. It is much less labor intensive and also much more sustainable. Dirty water is collected, cleaned and reused. All logistics operations in the warehouse are carried out with emission-free equipment, such as an electric articulated mop. Furthermore, our truck is equipped with an electric crane so that we can electrically load and unload the composite driving plates on site."

Stable and secure foundation

Apart from the aforementioned advantages, Ferex's driving plates are interconnectable. This results in a greater load capacity, despite the modest weight of the plates themselves. As a result, the composite plates are increasingly being used in a wide variety of projects. "This fall we started laying a nice large plateau in the Amsterdam region as the 'foundation' for a drilling station as part of the SCAN program into geothermal drilling. The drilling station will search for heat sources in the deep underground and requires a good and stable foundation. For this purpose, 1,100 pieces of our Heavy Duty driving plates will be used and interconnected," Jordi explains. "Since the project in Amsterdam is part of the national SCAN program, our driving plates will travel throughout the Netherlands in the coming years. Nice to contribute to that in our way."

The application range of the Ferex driving plates is incredibly wide. "In Germany, a new pipeline route is being constructed from the LNG terminal in Brunsbüttel to several other cities. Here, too, a 2,500-odd driving plates will provide a stable surface for the heavy equipment," Sanne points out. "Furthermore, Nobian has been a regular customer since day one, a company that has been involved in salt extraction in Twente for more than a hundred years. And in addition, of course, we also supply all small and large infrastructure contractors for the construction of temporary footpaths and bicycle paths. Because, in the infrastructure sector, we deliver significant savings in CO2 and nitrogen emissions with our products. That does not go unnoticed."