Making the port of Hamburg more accessible – that is the aim of the current fairway adjustment. The Elbe fairway between Hamburg and the mouth of the Elbe will be partly deepened and in some places widened.
The project consists of several sub-projects and the work is in full swing. The Port of Hamburg Authority has published the first in a series of videos that will cover the project.
Replacing a Culvert
This first video shows that the culvert that feeds electricity to and holds the data and telephone cables as well as the water pipes of the radar tower near Wittenbergen has already been completed. The culvert had to be replaced as the Elbe had to be deepened at this point and the current culvert was too close to the surface.
‘The culvert was installed using horizontal flush drill construction,’ says Nele Tewis, subproject management culvert. ‘The big drill diggs its way beneath the Elbe and then you have a one-kilometre long steel pipe. The individual pipes and cables are then drawn through it. You have to plan based on what the earth is like, because if the drill cannot penetrate the soil, the whole drilling process has to be stopped.’
Widening
The channel adjustment consists of deepening and widening. This means that ships coming upriver into Hamburg will take a course further to the south. That is why two new leading lights are being built to ensure the safety of ships. These constructions are built in the water and take just a week to complete.
Watch the video by the Port of Hamburg Authority below.
