Second Maasvlakte: 17 km CER runway the choice of concrete is deliberate

CER stands for Container Exchange Route, the lane is an uninterrupted link between the main container companies and facilities on the Maasvlakte. The 17-kilometer-long digitized piece of port infrastructure will bring significant efficiency improvements and cost savings to this largest container cluster in Europe. The CER runway is being built on behalf of the Port of Rotterdam Authority by the CER Combination, which consists of KWS and Van Hattum and Blankevoort.

Mathieu de Ruiter, Manager Technique CER and TWT (Thameswegracé) for the Port of Rotterdam Authority, describes the CER lane as a system of which the lane is a part. "It will soon connect all the terminals, container depots, distribution centers and customs facilities via a seamless continuous track where a positioning system will control the unmanned vehicles. This system is now in the testing phase. The same goes for the planning system, which, among other things, should ensure that the containers arrive at the right place at the right time with a container recognition system."

Axle loads

You would expect a lot of electronics in the track, but that is not the case. As a result, it has become an 'ordinary' concrete track. De Ruiter: "When we were at the beginning of the development process, we didn't yet know what type of vehicle would drive it. It could be AGVs, automatic vehicles that run on terminals, or Multi Trailer Systems, trailers that can hold ten containers, as well as ordinary unmanned trucks. We decided to size the design so that all vehicles could run on it and that the track could carry all axle loads for 80 years with high availability. For the latter, we required an availability of 99%. Indeed, the starting point was a commercial operation that continues 24/7. A new layer of asphalt every few years, therefore, was not an option."

Thick concrete track

So out came a 17 kilometer long and ten meter wide seamless road made of concrete. De Ruiter: "The entire package is no less than 90 centimeters thick and was laid cold on the Maasvlakte sand. The foundation consists of a layer of about sixty centimeters of lean concrete, a stiff mixture of cement, sand and recycled concrete rubble. With a layer of asphalt, this coarse foundation layer is leveled and made suitable for the top layer, a 26-centimeter thick concrete layer that is reinforced throughout. The reinforcement in this top layer is simple and makes concrete pouring easy to do." Executing in this is BKB Infra, which uses large slipform pavers for the construction. Per day they can lay some 250 meters, which is good for 650 cubic meters of concrete pouring.

Failsafe

The end result is a low-maintenance road capable of carrying the 50-ton axle load of an AGV. Incidentally, at the start of operations, the road will not be started with AGVs but with an Automatic Truck. This is the first time that continuous reinforced concrete pavement has been used on this scale. "But the choice of concrete was well-considered," continues De Ruiter. "The system does not tolerate being taken out of service, even for a few hours of asphalt repair. The system's electronics are also failsafe designed and implemented. The route has a number of intersections with roads and rail lines, and the unmanned vehicles there receive signals that they must slow down in time. We must assume that they cannot read traffic lights and so the traffic control system must be supported with equipment that informs the vehicles about the status of the traffic lights so that the vehicles can stop in time. In case of failure, the system must still be safe. So no signal means: stop. The operator in the traffic control center gets a notification of that and can intervene."   

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