'Extra hands' for The Green Bow

With a history stretching back 30 years, Anker Grondverzet knows the ropes. The company from Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel rents out (among other things) manned and unmanned equipment for earthworks. We speak with the Anker brothers, the 2nd generation within the family business. "We were hired by De Groene Boog for all kinds of work around the construction pits," we are told. "You can think of us as the pair of extra hands, doing manual labor to keep everything clean, tidy and going."

From trench to sludge depot

"The work includes keeping the construction site clean, constructing sludge depots, for the sludge coming from the excavation of the tunnel, digging trenches to drain groundwater and keeping the pumping equipment running," they list. "That then concerns sub-area 2, the tunnel. We are also active in subarea 1 and 3, including various excavation and earthmoving activities."

Equipment including crew

Anchor has between five and 10 excavators active on the project each day. "We are hired by De Groene Boog and provide not only the equipment but also the crew. The cooperation is very pleasant and if it all continues, we will be working for De Groene Boog until the end of the project. The big advantage is that we have our equipment in tip-top shape and our drivers are all skilled people. Anker Grondverzet has enough equipment to be able to scale up if necessary. We work flexibly, so if we need to jump in somewhere quickly, that's no problem either."