Elbe Dredging: Two new underwater storage areas successfully completed at ”Medemrinne“ and ”Neufelder Sand“

HWG member Machulez KG coordinated the large scale logistics project at the port of Cuxhaven 

Cuxhaven, November 21, 2019 – In the course of the deepening of the Elbe fairway to improve usability for Shipping, a total of around 1,200,000 tons of underwater construction stones were built into the “Medemrinne” and “Neufelder Sand” underwater deposit areas (UDAs) between March and October. Machulez KG, a member of the Cuxhaven Port Authority (HWG), coordinated the logistics requirements between the underwater construction companies, the quarry and the locally responsible institutions. Machulez provided its logistics network and portside infrastructure and acted as a base port within the framework of the Elbe deepening for the first construction phase. 

The stone mixture was required for the completion of respective central dams within the UDAs in the Elbe estuary funnel, so that the sediment quantities excavated later could be stored there and not washed back into the Elbe or the North Sea. 

“The biggest challenge of the project was to handle the multiple parallel handling of all ships involved in the project as well as the related pre-carriages and on-carriages. We were able to do this without any waiting times," explained the Machulez project team. 
Already through a foresighted planning phase and synchronized interfaces for all parties involved in the supply community, the complex logistics project at the port of Cuxhaven could be successfully implemented. 

The supplier consortium consisted of a Norwegian quarry, underwater construction specialists and various locally responsible institutions. Furthermore, the knowledge of the extensive specifications, the quality requirements of the rock as well as the nautical-technical experience were of major importance for the assessment of the realization. 
 
The Hansakai site in Cuxhaven, which has proven its worth for more than 70 years, was used as the construction site base port, as it is very well suited for the assembly and disassembly of waterway construction vessels with the new 50 metre wide RoRo heavy-duty ramp and the established and versatile port handling equipment. In addition, the port facility at Steubenhöft was used as a transshipment terminal. 

From March to September 2019, the more than 1 million tons of underwater construction stones arrived in Cuxhaven in more than 40 ship arrivals from Norway and were delivered to the two underwater construction sites in two independent logistics cycles, each with three construction site ships.