Railway giant opts for the deep blue sea

By Harry van Gelder
 
BUSAN – Strukton aims to become the world’s best tunnel immersion specialist and one of the biggest construction companies in the Netherlands. A prestigious project in Korea has been selected to place the former railway giant from Utrecht on the world map.

“This is as good as it gets for a civil engineer,” says Strukton Managing Director Martijn Smitt, zipping across the South China Sea in a noisy speedboat to the site where a 3.2 kilometre-long immersion tunnel is going to be laid by the Dutch construction company. It will be the longest and deepest immersion tunnel ever constructed. Eighteen tunnel elements of 180 metres in length and 35 metres wide are to be sunk to the seabed at a depth of around 50 metres.

The tunnel forms part of a US$ 3.2 billion Korean construction order linking the south of the country to the Geoje peninsula. An artificial island and two steel-cable bridges are also needed over and above the tunnel and the overall distance to be bridged amounts to more than eight kilometres.

“We needed a company with a great deal of experience immersing tunnel sections and one that would at the same time be able to comply with Korean legislation. In this respect, Korea differs from the rest of the world,” says Korean General Manager Bo-Hyun Yang, known to all at Strukton as ‘Mister Yang’. Mr. Yang is a senior official at the Korean conglomerate Daewoo.

Daewoo is by far the biggest partner in the construction consortium responsible for the combined bridge/tunnel project. Along with government, private financiers will finance most of the new infrastructure. The billions involved will be earned back by the construction consortium through toll charges over a 40-year period. This would appear a lucrative deal, since around 30,000 cars will pass through the tunnel on busy days, each paying roughly US$ 10.

Strukton will be earning € 70 million from Korea, a major project for the Utrecht-based construction company. According to Smitt, Daewoo is not taking his company for a ride. Mr. Yang confirms this: “It’s a question of mutual trust, not the lowest price. Our culture is not based on this. If a company fails to secure the contract, it’s failed to present the best structure.”
 
The Korean order is a nice windfall for Smitt, after narrowly missing construction of the Second Coentunnel. Smitt previously led the Wijkertunnel project, followed by the Maastunnel, IJtunnel, Calandtunnel, the North/South line, the A73 motorway and Limerick in Ireland. The bridge/tunnel combination in Korea is located close to Busan, the country’s most important port and naval base. That’s one of the main reasons why the Koreans want a tunnel. In the event of war, bombing a bridge could have catastrophic consequences for the Koreans, as it would close off the harbour in a single blow.

The choice for an immersed tunnel instead of the far more common option of a drilled tunnel was made because of the soft Korean under layer. “Once you start drilling, the tunnel would end up so deep that the road to the surface would become too steep to drive out at the end,” says Smitt.

Korea has great plans to develop the Geoje peninsula. These include industry and, strangely, mass tourism. The envisaged tourist industry will generate an estimated annual turnover of US$ 1.2 billion. The shipyards located on the island owned by the likes of Korean giants Samsung and Daewoo, will benefit directly from the new road. It takes around two hours to get from Busan to Geoje using the old narrow road that winds along the coastline. Once the new infrastructure is ready by the end of 2010, it will only take drivers a little over half an hour.

The boat bumps along, engines roaring. It leaves the new Sanyung shipyard behind it, where the first four tunnel sections have already been constructed. The shipyard launches a brand new cargo ship each week; the lost Dutch shipbuilding industry can be seen in all its glory in Korea. However, Korean wages are not below those in the Netherlands according to the Strukton employee: “They’re quite a bit higher actually.” But the Korean workers are more productive and work far longer.

The first of eighteen gigantic tunnel sections leaves the docks the next day. The second section was to follow a day later, but hundreds of Korean skippers blocked off the entrance to the docks with their boats, demanding compensation from the Korean government because the tunnel and bridges will dispel part of their fishing ground. A Dutch-Korean battle was narrowly avoided on the South China Sea. Following discussions with the Korean authorities, the fishing vessels broke formation enabling the colossal second tunnel section to pass through.

Provisionally, the first four tunnel sections will be parked at a location elsewhere. They will remain there until January or February when they will be towed to their definitive resting place. “Only then will the sea be calm enough,” explains Smitt. According to him, the power of the sea should not be underestimated: “The concrete tunnel elements could snap given a certain combination of ocean surface waves.”

The Koreans display a great interest in the specialised work carried out by the Dutchmen. They can’t help by wonder if more immersion projects will follow in Korea. “In a few years time, they’ll be doing it themselves. Of this, I am convinced,” says Smitt.

Source: De Telegraaf, 23 October 2007