Maasvlakte III — Caisson Dry Dock

The Port of Rotterdam is Europe's largest seaport, handling 450 million tonnes of cargo annually. Maasvlakte III extends this capacity with a 1.2 km automated container quay built on reclaimed land — a man-made polder constructed from 2.1 million cubic metres of dredged material.

The quay features fully automated stacking cranes with AI-driven container positioning, achieving 35 moves per hour per crane — a 22% improvement over the previous generation. The caisson foundation system uses 24 precast concrete units, each weighing 18,000 tonnes, placed by Wepex's heavy-lift crane vessel to tolerances of ±15 mm.

Environmental protections include bubble curtains during piling operations to protect marine mammals, and a sediment management plan that redirects 85% of dredged material into beneficial reuse schemes including beach nourishment and dike reinforcement.