Technical visits

On Monday, 27 September, a selection of interesting technical visits will be offered by local organizations. Delegates and their partners will have an opportunity to choose two trips from the five optional tours. These tours are included in the Congress registration fee. Each trip will take 4 hours and they will run simultaneously from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 14:00 to 18:00 hrs, allowing sufficient time to swap buses at 14:00 hrs. Advance registration for the tours is required. Please indicate in the Congress registration form which tour you wish to join and in which time slot. Places for the tours will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Every effort will be made to assign places according to the preferences indicated, however, preferred choices cannot be guaranteed. Those delegates participating in the technical visits are advised to report at the Congress registration desk at CCH and to collect their Congress materials, including information about the technical tours, on the afternoon of Sunday 26 Sept. or in the morning of Monday 27 Sept. (see registration desk opening hours later in this brochure). To assist those delegates who cannot collect their Congress materials before the tours start, the final list of participants for each tour will be displayed on the bulletin board at the CCH, near the registration area from Sunday 26 Sept. 13:00 hrs onwards.

Tour 1: Treatment and disposal of contaminated dredged material in Hamburg

In the Port of Hamburg 3 to 4 million m³ sediment has to be dredged annually to secure adequate water depths. Of this amount 1 million m3 has to be treated on land. For 10 years the METHA plant (MEchanical Treatment and dewatering of HArbour sediments) has been operating to separate the dredged material and to dewater the silt by technical means. The dewatered silt is disposed of in two mounds complying with landfill standards. Each will be 38 m high and have a capacity of approximately 20 million in situ m3. To minimize emissions of contaminated pore water, dewatered silt with a very low permeability is used as a mineral liner. This tour includes a visit to the silt mound as well as the METHA-plant.

Tour 2: Technical University Hamburg-Harburg (TU HH):

The TU HH is a new university that was founded some 25 years ago. Courses on river and coastal engineering started a few years ago. Innovative methods of handling and treating sediments and dealing with sediment systems - contaminated or not - are being developed by various newly established institutes within the university. One example of these, headed by Prof. U. Förstner, is a special capping method for contaminated sediments that is being developed at the Institute for Environmental Techniques. Other interesting projects are being developed at the Institute of Prof. Pasche, who is working on bio-hydro engineering details and the historical morphological development of tidal river systems. Those participating in this tour will have the opportunity to learn about these new methods and exchange ideas with the experts directly involved in this research. The staff of the above-mentioned institutes are also looking forward to fruitful discussions with interested WODCON delegates on the possibility of future co-operation.

Tour 3: Mühlenberger Loch Project

The need for more space for the Airbus Industries in Hamburg led to a spectacular new way to fill a sensitive fresh water mud flat area in a very short time, mainly during the year 2002. Foundation works for a new dike with some 60000 sand piles - some of them up to 15 m deep - were completed within less than one year fulfilling the criteria of the Guinness book of records. About 150 hectares enclosed by the new dike were filled in a record time to make place for an industrial area by 2003. A freshwater compensation area was created by carrying out excavations in an old dike and a marshland area at the same time. This tour includes a visit to some new sheds where aeroplanes are already under construction as well as a short field trip to the new industrial area and the dikes of the famous "Mühlenberger Loch".

Tour 4: German Waterway Engineering and Research Institute Coastal Division (BAW-AK)

The BAW-AK is very experienced in creating hydraulic models of the coastal area of the German Bight. Of particular interest are the 3D models of the tidal river systems Ems, Jade, Weser and Elbe, all special parts of the Wadden Sea area, where enormous amounts of sediments are in continuous natural motion. Good management of these sediments, including constant dredging as a management tool, is essential to maintain navigability to big ports like Hamburg. Optimizing this system in an economic and ecological manner is one current task of the engineers of the BAW-AK.

Tour 5: Hamburg city and port

WODCON XVII delegates will be treated to an exclusive tour especially designed to acquaint them with this beautiful Hanseatic city, rich in history and cultural attractions, that is often called the "Venice of the North". This will start with a sightseeing bus tour through the city, touching on the principle sights and highlights in the heart of the city and along the banks of the Alster and the Elbe. "You haven't seen Hamburg, if you haven't seen it from the water", so participants will continue with a harbour cruise along the fascinating string of pearls from the new Harbour-City, via the St-Pauli landing bridges with their distinctive tower, the St Pauli Fish Market, the Museum port Neumühlen, the main container terminals and the famous riverbanks of the Elbe suburbs of Hamburg.