Case Study Overview
Red7Marine supported the construction of a new €258M bridge over the Kiel Canal in Rendsburg, Germany.
10 years ago, severe damage was found on the Rader High Bridge, which originally opened in 1972. Traffic has increased extensively over the last few years, and it is expected 63,000 vehicles will be travelling on this section of road by 2035.
The overall project involves the demolition of the existing bridge as well as the construction of a second bridge in separate lots allowing for 3 three lanes and hard shoulder in each direction. The overall project is due to be finished by 2031.
At a glance
- Location: East of Rendsburg, Schlegswig-Holstein
- Plant used: 250T Haven Seariser4 jack-up barge and Haven SeaSeven 400t jack-up barge.
- What we did: Red7Marine was contracted to help construct two structures using two of our jack-up barges.
VALUE ENGINEERING
Ahead of the mobilisation, Red7Marine’s team of engineers worked closely with Implenia to understand the temporary works requirements for the project. This included carrying out detailed deck plans for each jack-up platform to ensure stability during floating and working conditions.
Red7Marine’s Haven Seaseven was the primary barge conducting the piling activities for the project. The barge was equipped with 70t of temporary works, designed and fabricated by Red7Marine’s team of engineers in conjunction with design partners, MintMech.
These temporary works comprised of a bull rail and removable cantilever platform that enabled a 100t crane with a 30t casing oscillator attachment to protrude off the side of the barge and to carry out the drilling operations and pile installations for the bridge foundations.
The Challenge
Red7Marine’s Haven Seariser 4 was equipped with a 250t crane on deck with a luffing jib to assist the project in all required lift activities, most notably the +30m reinforcement cage and the permanent casing. During the extraction of the temporary casings, the casing oscillator applied up to 230t of vertical forces and a 2800kNm torsional force into the barge, made possible by the engineering work from all involved.
Careful planning and engineering expertise during the tender stage were vital to push the barge’s capacity to its limits, ensuring a smooth and efficient operation.
The Solution
In order to restrain the pile casing in the horizontal and the vertical plane while the oscillator was being operated, Red7Marine and design partner Mintmech designed and fabricated a 67t-heavy piling gate, which consisted of a 1m-high steel structure cantilevering by around 2m over the side of the primary barge. The piling gate design enabled three adjacent piles to be constructed, one after the other, without the need to reposition the barge.
The first bored pile was successfully cast in June 2023 and, by February 2024, the barges had returned to England.
The target date for completion of the first structure is 2026 and the overall project is due to be finished by 2031. By 2035, around 63,000 vehicles per day are expected to travel on the complete replacement bridge.
