GEWI ^® Plus Piles stabilize one of the Largest Automobile Commercial Harbors in the World: Kaiserschleuse Bremerhaven

With a turnover of approx. 2 million vehicles per year, Bremerhaven is one of the world’s largest commercial harbors for cars. Up to now, car carriers depended on the northern lock due to the fact that the 28m wide, 215m long and 9m deep Kaiserschleuse Bremerhaven, which was originally inaugurated in 1897, was too small for modern transport ships that can be up to 240m long.

In order to avoid a detour via the northern lock into Kaiser Harbor and the associated long waiting time, the decision was made to build an up to date, safe lock complex. The new lock is 305m long, 55m wide and 13m deep and suitable for future generations of transport ships that can be up to 270m in length. The new Kaiserschleuse is fitted with innovative lift and slide gates. Costing approx. 233 Million Euros, the project is the largest lock project in Europe.

DSI supplied approx. 770 63.5mm Ø GEWI ^® Plus Piles, half of which were Double Corrosion Protected, for buoyancy control at the sills, sluice heads and blocks. The buoyancy control anchorages were installed after the excavations had reached their final depths. The GEWI ^® Plus Piles were installed using mobile work scaffolding, and 640,000m³ of soil were excavated during construction work.

Once the GEWI ^® Plus Piles were installed, a 1.5m thick underwater concrete floor was constructed. A total of 2,000m of quay walls were realized using the sheet piling method for the Kaiserschleuse. In addition, approx. 750m of sheet piles were driven for the retaining walls of the sluice head excavations.

Construction work proved to be difficult due to the fact that it had to be carried out during high tide and in partly soft clay soil with very low load capacities. Due to the depth of the excavation, the poor soil conditions and the high water pressure, the sheet piles had to be stabilized by up to three waler lines.

Work at the Kaiserschleuse began in 2008 and was successfully completed in the spring of 2010. Thanks to the enlargement of the lock complex, Bremerhaven will be able to maintain and further expand its position as one of the world’s largest commercial harbors for cars.