Work starts on €30 Million Bremerhaven quay revamp

Bremen authorities have acknowledged that the Westkaje, built between 1907 and 1909, “is showing signs of damage which substantially endanger the safety of the location”. It was decided last year to rebuild the nearly 500m long facility at a cost of €30 million.

Reporting the opening of that work mid July after EU approval, Ruediger Staats, spokesman for port management company bremenports told Maritime Journal “it is important to remember that this is a public quay.

“It has to be renovated as quickly as possible, regardless of what happens on land. The quayside is extremely unsafe and after 110 years has reached the end of its life”, he declared.

Bremerhaven processes more than two million vehicles in peak years and the Kaiserhafen is a hub of that business with handling and storage space, much of its covered, for tens of thousands of vehicles. The bulk of the vehicles arrive on car carriers from the North Sea and the Weser through the nearby Kaiserschleuse Lock.

No car handling takes place on the Westkaje, which is and will apparently remain just a vehicle storage site. Ship handling takes place on the eastern side at the Car Terminal on Kaiserhafen II. However there will be a valuable spin-off for ship handling from the renovation of the Westkaje because the new quay wall is being set back, widening the harbour basin and providing “even better nautical conditions” for ever-bigger car carriers. Bremenports MD Robert Howe said moving the new quay wall nine metres inland will “ease ship manoeuverability in the harbour”.

The new Westkaje is being built by a consortium grouping the German construction concerns Bilfinger and August Prien, Staats reported and is expected to be completed in 18 months.

During the initial phase, old foundations and obstacles including an old loading ramp are being demolished. Ramming is meanwhile underway for the new quay’s steel pilings and grouted footings and anchorings which are being located nine metres behind the old wall. Later, the old quay wall itself, along with about 2,500 original old wooden pilings, are being removed and the ground level excavated to the new water depth.

Bremenports said some 4,000 tons of steel sheet pilings will go into the new Westkaje along with 3,500 m3 of concrete and that 50,000 cubic metres of soil will be removed.

Because of the renovation, bremenports will lose berths for some of its workboats. However Staats reported that a replacement landing stage will be built on the northern side of the Kaiserhafen III.

By Tom Todd