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The Maeslant Storm Surge Barrier is one of the largest moving structures on the planet.  The barrier, completed in May of 1997, was the final stage of the Delta Works, a series of dams, sluices and storm surge barriers aimed to protect the port of Rotterdam and surrounding communities from flooding.  The Delta Works was originally started following the North Sea flood of 1953 that killed over 1,800 people.

The barrier consists of two large steel gates that operate on ball-and-socket joints, much like the human shoulder, that move freely with rising water, wind and waves.  The gates then close automatically by a computer system that makes the decision based on water levels and weather forecasts, with no human interaction needed.

Deltaworks.org explains its functioning:

During water levels of 3 metres above Amsterdam ordnance zero, the arms of the barrier are activated. The waterway, with a width of 360 metres, can then be closed completely. At first sight, it is almost unbelievable that such a barrier is capable of such an achievement. The Maeslant barrier is almost as long as the Eiffel tower and weighs about four times as much. It is the only storm surge barrier in the world with such large moveable parts. The storm surging doors have a length of 240 metres each. Under normal circumstances, these doors are fully opened, so that the ships have access to the port of Rotterdam. The doors are stored in docks with a length of 210 metres, which lie along both shores. [Continue Reading →]

Photo By Gerard Stolk

Shipspotters (via Fred Fry’s Discoverer Entry) brings us Zhen Hua 10 Stranded on Beach near Rotterdam!

We detailed the sister ship Zhen Hua 5 ship in a previous video post titled: Time Lapse Video - Moving a Crane

Ship Of The Day tells us:

Today we have a very special report at Ship of the Day. In the night between friday and saturday, the heavy load carrier Zhen Hua 10 (IMO: 7917410, Port of Registry: Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines), which was anchored near Rotterdam, ran adrift in storm conditions and floated towards the Dutch coast, where she finally ran aground at the ‘Slufter’-beach at the Maasvlakte. For a while it appeared that the vessel was in danger of capsizing, but she was soon stable being stuck in the sand. The Zhen Hua 10 is loaded with 5 containercranes (of which one is destined for the new Euromax-terminal at Rotterdam) from Shanghai and has a crew of 33, which are still on board and not injured. Continue Reading…

Location of beached ship:

AIS Map by dirk.jan

Video of beached ship:

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Related Links:

• Flickr Slideshow of Incident
• Shipspotters Discussion
• PortPictures - Incident Photos
• Pre-Incident Photos of Crane Ship Zhen Hua
• Original Tugspotter Blog Post
• VIDEO of the incident
• Time Lapse Video - Moving a Crane

UPDATE:

Dirkjan (creator of the AIS plot seen above) emailed us with the following update:

I have some news: Zhen Hua 10 is floating again since an half hour. I see this on my Shipplotter screen.
Earlier on Monday they managed to turn the vessel 90 deg,
heading to sea, and around midnight they used 3 harbourtugs
and one big tug (Janus IMO 9367504) and this was succesful.