Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge opened to traffic – Bauer produced 230 offshore piles for the megabridge

In 2009, work started on the construction of a gigantic infrastructure project, in which BAUER Hong Kong Ltd. was also involved: the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge. The construction project of the century was ceremonially opened on October 23.

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The 55-km-long bridge cuts the travel time from Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland from four-and-a-half hours to just over 40 minutes. A range of bridges, tunnels and artificial islands connects the cities of Hong Kong, Macao and Zhuhai. The main section of the bridge is just over 30 km long and has three lanes in both directions. A 15-km-long section is now the longest steel bridge in the world and a 6.7-km-long underwater tunnel that also belongs to the project is not just the longest but also the deepest at 48 m under the water surface.

BAUER Hong Kong Ltd. was contracted by the joint venture, Dragages-China Harbour-VSL, to install the necessarily bored piles for the “Hong Kong Link Road”, a 10-km-long section from the border between China and Hong Kong as far as Hong Kong International Airport. The local subsidiary of BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH produced a total of 230 offshore bored piles between April 2013 and December 2014 with lengths of up to 115 m, diameters of max. 2.5 m and rock socketing of up to 5 m.

The fact that all of the drilling works had to be carried out underwater was particularly challenging here. Five BAUER BG 40 rotary drilling rigs were used – four of them were custom-built with an extended mast and larger main winches. They were transported to steel platforms by ship, in addition, there were pontoons for four bentonite plants, 300-ton cranes and accessories.