10.09.2025 | Press Release

Investment in the future: HGK AG modernises quay facility in Niehl harbour

Sheet piling at the head end of the Stapelkai renewed - expenditure totalling around 4.8 million euros

Cologne. When iron comes into permanent contact with water and oxygen, it is not necessary to study chemistry to predict the corresponding reaction: corrosion, colloquially known as rust, affects the material over the course of decades. For this reason, Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln AG (HGK) regularly inspects the sheet piling in its three Rhine ports in order to detect any damage in good time and then repair it. This is currently happening in Niehl harbour: the last plank of a new sheet pile wall has now been installed at the head end of the Stapelkais.

The last plank for the sheet pile wall at the head end of the pile quay has now been installed. © HGK

However, the implementation of such a measure is a very complex and time-consuming process. Planning was already carried out from 2021 and explosive ordnance and subsoil investigations were carried out in order to be able to submit the application for approval in 2022. Following planning approval in mid-2024, work could then begin in spring 2025 after the tender and contract award. These were planned by the engineering firm Schumacher Bornheim and carried out by OHF Hafen- und Flussbau GmbH. The work is scheduled for completion in spring 2026.

There is no doubt about the necessity of the measures. "The existing half-height sheet pile wall was found to have severe surface corrosion. After a service life of around 60 years, the material thickness was only measured to be two to four millimetres in places," reports HGK project manager Andreas Kelz. The new sheet pile wall now has a thickness of 13.1 mm again.

To ensure safety in the harbour, HGK AG is investing heavily in the harbour's infrastructure. "The budget for this construction phase totals around five million euros," reports Peter Trapp, Head of Real Estate at HGK AG. He adds: "The repair of this sheet pile wall is the prelude to further measures that we will implement in the coming years in order to make our contribution to the desired transport turnaround."