1996  –  RIJNSTROOM

Various vessels of Van Wijngaarden Marine Services as the RIJNSTROOM, Dintelstroom, Lingestroom and the crew tender ‘Viking’ were deployed for the megaproject Great Belt Bridge in Denmark, which can be compared to the Oosterschelde Delta Works in the Netherlands.

History
The Grote Beltbrug (Storebæltsbroen) is a fixed connection across the Grote Belt between the Danish islands of Funen and Seeland and between the cities of Nyborg and Korsør. The project consisted of the construction of an eighteen kilometer long connection, consisting of two bridges of 6.6 and 6.8 kilometers in length and a railway tunnel of eight kilometers in length between Sprogø and Seeland. On the east side, the so-called ‘suspension bridge’ for road traffic, which -  in order not to hinder international shipping - hangs high above the Grote Belt with a clearance of 65 meters. On the west side a standard concrete girder bridge is located with a clearance of eightteen meters. Sprogø is a small, natural island – a nature reserve without permanent residents – to which both bridges connect. During construction, the area of the island was increased from 38 to 154 hectares. The eastern tunnel (Østtunnelen) – a two-tube bored tunnel with a maximum of 75 meters below sea level – is located north of the Oostbrug and is a railway tunnel with a length of 8,024 meters. The established connection has been open to train traffic since 1997 as well as road traffic since 1998. Source: Wikipedia

Image: Docking of a ‘rock pontoon’ alongside an anchored ‘Barge’