The Cologne Ports and Goods Traffic AG (HGK) regularly checks the sheet pile walls in its three Rhine ports to detect any rust damage in a timely manner and subsequently remedy it. Water and oxygen take their toll on the iron material over the decades and lead to corrosion, according to HGK.
Extensive planning required
Thus, at the Niehl Port, at the head end of the stacking quay, the last plank of a new sheet pile
wall was installed. The implementation of such a measure, however, is, according to their own statements, a very complex and time-consuming process.
Planning began in 2021 and ordnance clearance as well as geotechnical investigations were carried out to enable submission of the permit application in 2022. After plan approval in mid-2024, the works could then begin in spring 2025 following tendering and awarding of the contract. They were designed by the engineering firm Schumacher Bornheim and
carried out by OHF Hafen- und Flussbau GmbH. The works are to be completed in spring 2026.
There is no doubt about the necessity of the measures. HGK project manager Andreas Kelz:
“On the existing half-height sheet pile wall, significant area-wide corrosion was detected. After around 60 years of service, in some places only a material thickness of two to four millimeters was measured.”
New sheet pile wall provides safety
The new sheet pile wall now
has a thickness of 13.1 millimeters again. To ensure safety in the port, HGK AG is making a substantial investment in the port's infrastructure. Peter Trapp, Head of Real Estate at HGK AG:
“The budget for this construction phase amounts to around five million euros in total. The repair of this sheet pile wall is the starting point for further measures that we will implement in the coming years to contribute to the planned mobility transition.”
