Queen Beatrix closes the final gap in the Maasvlakte 2 seawall

It was at the end of 2008 that the Port of Rotterdam Authority commenced construction of Maasvlakte 2, the 2,000 hectare land reclamation project in the North Sea for the development of the Port of Rotterdam. When finished, the project will increase the size of the Port of Rotterdam by 20% and the Netherlands coastline will extend 3.5 km further into the sea. The project is on schedule, and the first container terminals will be operational in 2014

Construction of the seawall has been taking taken place from two sides over the past years. On the northern side, alongside the navigation channel to the port, 3.5 km of hard seawall have been built in which around 20,000 concrete blocks from the existing Maasvlakte seawall were reused. On the south side, a soft seawall of 7.5 km was built comprising 14 m high sand dunes planted along the entire length with Marram grass. The beach on the south side has also been widened by 100 m for the benefit of beachgoers.

Trailing suction hopper dredgers Prins der Nederlanden and Vox Máxima and cutter suction dredger Edax have been bringing the last 10m cubic metres of sand to the incomplete seawall section of between the hard and soft sections since the middle of June and they have just joined forces to connect the two sections.