Work on Antwerp’s Canal Tunnels begins

The Canal Tunnels will comprise four tubes stacked in pairs and, unlike other similar tunnel elements that are built ashore, floated into position then sunk, will be built on site.

Preparatory work included dredging in the Albert Canal and construction of a working island.

Steel sheet piles will be driven into the bottom of the Albert Canal, with testing already determining the best technique involves a method using more vibratory driving and less pile driving to minimise noise pollution.

This will take around a year, and from the end of 2024 water will be pumped out from between the sheet piling and the construction pit, which will be filled with sand to create a dry area for building the tunnels.

Navigation

The work will reduce the width of the Albert Canal, a heavily used waterway for shipping, and special measures have been included to maintain safe navigation during the period.

Local VTS provision has been extended to cover the area with mobile radar units provided, along with a digital passage planner and additional VTS operators and planners also hired.

Worker safety is important and an approach berm, a first in Belgium, has been built in the America Dock to protect the shipyard and later the tunnels and ships in case of a collision, a potential risk as the top of the tunnels will be slightly higher than the bottom of the dock.

While the probability of a collision is “very low thanks to vessel guidance and signage along the fairway”, the potential consequences of a collision are significant.

In 2022, preparatory work included the moving of cables, pipes and sewers to clear the ground of obstacles before the main work commenced.

A concrete plant under construction at Straatsburg Dock-Noordkaai will produce concrete later in 2024 for works on both the ring road and the Canal Tunnels, the first section of which is due to be ready by the end of 2028.