Underground in Rotterdam
News article
A shaft that is 25 metres deep, and pipes that are 18 metres long. They don’t fit in there. ‘You cut them in half, take them down, weld them together again and pull them through,’ says Raymond Cohen, Rotterdam Hydrogen Network Supervisor at Gasunie. He was there every day during the construction of the 32-kilometre hydrogen network section running right through the Rotterdam port area. Dozens of junctions, all with their own preconditions, risks and time frames. ‘Now that the hydrogen network is there, you’d almost forget everything that happened before,’ says Jos van Ginneken, Lead Engineer for the Rotterdam Hydrogen Network at Gasunie.
Building in the most crowded piece of subsoil
Rotterdam’s subsoil is full. ‘It’s highly industrialised,’ says Mark Berghuis, Local Community Manager for the Rotterdam Hydrogen Network at Gasunie. ‘We constantly needed to be aware of other projects along the same route, with ecological restrictions and companies that need to keep their processes running. The effect of the project on the local communities was bigger than we could judge in advance.’
Cables, pipes, tunnels, dykes, railway lines and slip roads are all close together. In addition to this, tight restrictions apply. Depending on the weather conditions, the breeding season runs from April to late August and the storm season from October to late March. ‘During those periods we’re not allowed to work in Rijkswaterstaat’s protection zone,’ says Cohen. ‘If a storm were to arrive, we couldn’t let the Netherlands flood because we happen to be laying a pipeline.’
Ecology also plays a constant role. Over 30 kilometres of toad screens were installed to protect the natterjack toad. Sometimes ecologists would find smooth cat’s ear, a protected plant that can disrupt your schedule after a single discovery. In these cases, the topsoil is removed, the soil is surveyed and mapped out, and the work plan is adjusted accordingly. ‘Everyone has their own interests. We try and keep those in mind,’ says Berghuis. ‘But in the meantime you still have a contract. That’s where the tension occurs.’
52 hours for a railway crossing
On paper, the route runs from the Maasvlakte industrial area to the Pernis industrial cluster. In practice, however, the work was far from linear. ‘Working from A to B? You can forget about that,’ says Cohen. ‘We started in a certain location, but had to move all the time.’ And the schedule moved along with them. ‘At one point, we were at version 36 of our schedule.’
They had to cover a total of 40 junctions: motorways, railways, waterways. ‘At every junction you were dealing with other parties and other requirements,’ says Berghuis. ‘Those always determined what you could and couldn’t do, and when you could do it.’ No two junctions were the same, according to Gerben Kamphuis, Project Manager at the contractor Hanab Pipelines & Utilities. ‘Each time you had to check again: what is already there, what is possible here and how can we do it?’
There was only one opportunity at the railway line: 52 hours to break open the rails, lay the pipeline and restore everything. ‘Had it failed, the next opportunity would have been months down the line,’ says Berghuis.
‘At times like those, you see what a combination of flexibility in implementation and sound planning can do,’ reflects Van Ginneken.
Coordination down to the last centimetre
What made the planning even more complex was the Porthos project, the CO2 pipeline being constructed parallel to the same route at a distance of 40 centimetres.
‘As we were literally working shoulder to shoulder in some locations, we immediately set up so-called cockpit meetings,’ says Kamphuis. ‘We convened every month, held work sessions in between and performed work on junctions together. In addition, we held weekly walk-in sessions with up to 100 participants: owners, regulatory authority representatives and other stakeholders. This collaboration method worked very well in practice.’
According to Van Ginneken, close collaboration also requires clarity and sticking to your agreements. ‘You need to tell the truth, and understand what is important to the other party. A port authority needs to keep an area operational. We need to construct a pipeline. Once you accept that, you can move on.’
Signatures on the steel
This collaboration was shaped on the building site. At the Caland tunnel, the whole project team was present at the pipeline before it went into the ground. ‘We put our signatures on the steel. Those moments create connections,’ says Kamphuis.
A large part of the work took place underground. 25 metres underneath a canal in an enclosed space, dragging pipe sections around in semi-darkness. Whatever the weather, sometimes fully geared up in temperatures of 27 degrees. ‘Hats off to those lads,’ says Kamphuis.
Cohen adds: ‘Every link in the chain is important, from design to implementation. If everyone does their job properly, you can achieve this.’
The best present for Saint Nicholas Day
Half-way into the work, the project changed again. Two sections were to be added: Merwedeweg and Isarweg. These branches suddenly had to be fitted into an ongoing project. ‘We engineered them within a year,’ says Jos van Ginneken. ‘Afterwards, Hanab was able to include them in the work right away, without delaying the schedule.’ It made a project that was already complex even more intensive. ‘This is the most complex project I’ve ever worked on.’
Despite everything, progress was maintained. Everything came together on Saint Nicholas Day 2025. The 32-kilometre pipeline with six branches was tested. It was nerve-wracking, but all went well. Things accelerated afterwards. The pipeline was officially put into service on 31 January 2026, so the infrastructure is now ready for industrial connections. ‘We managed everything in the end,’ says Kamphuis. ‘With more projects than anticipated, but within the deadline.’
Hydrogen connections for industry
The team’s work is not quite yet finished. In Pernis, they’re working on the connection to the Shell refinery, right in the middle of one of the busiest pieces of subsoil in the Netherlands. At the same time, new branches are already on the drawing board. Dozens of kilometres, intended to connect companies in the port area to the hydrogen network.
You won’t see most of this work. It’s all underground, out of view. But that’s where they’re building our future energy supply and usage system. ‘What was once fiction is now reality,’ says Van Ginneken. ‘The hydrogen pipeline is there, and it’s ready for use.’