Container hub, Duisburg

Under contract for DB InfraGO AG from October 2022 to June 2024, DEPENBROCK Tiefbau Duisburg is building a connecting road from the port of Duisburg to two Deutsche Bahn gantry cranes for intermodal freight container handling. In future, goods will be transhipped here for truck and rail transport.

General civil engineering services will be provided along with sewer, road and asphalt construction. The particular challenge of this construction project is that most of the work is subject to the random risk that small WWII munitions may be present – always under the surveillance of a supervisor in accordance with the Explosives Act of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Due to the possible presence of explosive ordnance, the road structure was also redesigned. This necessitated field trials to test an alternative substructure that would achieve the required load-bearing capacity without dynamic compaction. The specification was met by incorporating approx. 2,400 m³ of self-compacting liquid soil. Moreover, crash barriers could not be installed using pile drivers, so concrete crash barriers were erected instead. For the safety of the equipment operators, tracked and wheeled excavators with bulletproof glass and cab protection were used.