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Scheldt tubes casting finished BELGIUM - Construction casting of the eight concrete elements for Antwerp’s 1.8km-long Scheldt immersed tube tunnel has been completed. Contractor TM Cotu began building the


large elements in a construction dock in Zeebrugge in January 2023. Following casting, the elements are being made watertight before flotation from the flooded dock and towed via the North Sea to the project site, in Antwerp. The tow out is to take place in 2025. Four tug boats will accompany the towing boat. A total of 200,000m³ of concrete and 50,000 tonnes of steel were used for the tunnel elements. Each element weighs around 60,000 tonnes and consists of two tubes to accommodate vehicle traffic, a service lane and a 6m-wide bike lane. The Scheldt Tunnel, which is due to open


in 2028, is part of the Oosterweel Link, a ring road around Antwerp designed to improve links to the city and its port.


Swiss launch for CRCHI TBM SWITZERLAND - The first Chinese-made TBM to be used in Switzerland has started work on a water conveyance tunnel. The double shield TBM, manufactured by


China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Corporation Ltd (CRCHI), began normal excavation in late September at Ingenbohl, on the eastern side of Lake Lucerne. The water conveyance tunnel, which will


connect Ingenbohl city with the resort of Brunnen, will be approximately 1.2km in length and a drainage capacity of 2800m3 per hour. It is expected to be completed in 2025. The TBM is about 110m in length and has


1700KW of installed power. It is equipped with anchor drilling rigs, concrete spraying equipment, advanced drilling and detecting devices, and supporting devices.


Immersion vessel arrives for Fehmarnbelt tunnel DENMARK - The immersion vessels for Fehmarnbelt’s multiple long tunnel elements have arrived at the Rødbyhavn construction site on Lolland. The two immersion vessels, that can


be assembled and disassembled, were delivered to Femern Link Contractors (FLC). It sailed to Rødbyhavn from the Crist shipyard in Gdynia, Poland. The Fehmarn project is building a 17.6km-


long immersed tube tunnel - the world’s longest - to create a strategic, multi-mode


fixed transport link between Denmark and Germany. The tunnel will carry both vehicle and rail traffic, in separate structural corridors in the massive hollow structure. ‘Ivy 1’ and ‘Ivy 2’ have been designed


to support Fehmarnbelt long and wide tunnel elements during their journey from the work harbour to the site location, offshore, where they will be immersed and carefully placed onto the sea bed. They will be located at the opposite ends of each standard element. For special, shorter elements though the vessels will be coupled together. When the 217m-long hollow concrete


elements leave the massive casting factory and are floated out from the holding dockyard, they are sealed with bulkheads at the ends. Prior to the immersion process, however, several thousand tonnes of ballast concrete will be added to the huge elements to help place them onto the seabed. The pontoons will be the only support.


Ivy 1 and Ivy 2 are, in total, operated by a 22-person crew. The total vessel contains winches with over 200km of steel wire and a control room from where the immersion process will be managed.


Bessac pipejack in Bogota COLOMBIA - Bessac Andina has used pipejacking for GRP pipes under a highway in Bogota for general contractor Mario Alberto Huertas Cotes. The project is for the Urban Development


Institute and is part of the TransMilenio works on the capital’s North Highway. The work covered several areas,


including the TransMilenio on Highway North, Carrera 9 and a railway line. It was carried out in two main stages – first, construction of two launch shafts and two reception shafts to facilitate drilling operations and pipe laying; second, installation of the pipes with diameters from 1000mm-1200mm using trenchless technology with the pipe jacking micro- tunnelling system. Bessac Andina is adopting trenchless


technology to reduce its carbon footprint compared with conventional digging methods.


Fogmaker gets OK for high-pressure HDME SWEDEN - Fogmaker International has received FM approval for its high-pressure HDME fire-suppression system. The FM 5970 Approval adds to


certifications, such as the UL mark, SPCR 197


and 199, and AS 5062:2016, that Fogmaker already held for its fire suppression systems for vehicles, machines, and enclosed spaces. Mario Flores, key account manager


and responsible for the Mining Segment, welcomed the news. “This is very exciting. We’re not just


certified, we’re approved at the highest level and verified by the most respected certification bodies in the world,” he said. CEO Lars Alrutz said the product had


stood up to rigorous testing and the FM Approval would allow Fogmaker to better serve its customers in the mining segment. “This is a significant step towards


achieving our vision of creating safer environments globally,” he said. The testing and approval were performed


with the company’s new Eco 1 suppressant – a liquid that is 100% PFAS-Free and GreenScreen Certified at the Silver level.


HDD bore backs Polish offshore wind POLAND - Large-scale horizontal directional drilling (HDD) has been used in Poland for the first time, connecting an offshore wind farm with an onshore substation. The technology has been used to


complete the first of four 1.4km-long tunnels for the Baltic Power project in Lubiatów. The tunnels will house 300mm- diameter transmission cables. Part of the drilling operation took place


offshore, using divers and a jack-up rig to complete the underwater section. The more than 8,000m3


of spoil


extracted from the four drills will be used in beach restoration programmes, helping to repair storm damage sustained over the winter. Baltic Power board member Jens Poulsen


said the drilling was an engineering challenge. “In Europe, shoreline-crossing drills are


typically shorter, and when they are longer, the drill diameter is usually smaller. We are undertaking a significant engineering challenge, drilling nearly 1.5km under dunes, the beach, and the seabed. It’s not possible to drill from just one side, but we are working to ensure minimal environmental disruption,” he said. Eight kilometres away, in Lęborski Osieki,


the onshore substation is being built. It will receive power from the wind farm and integrate it into the national power grid. The project is due to be completed in


2026. January 2025 | 7


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