Following a heavy rainfall and the climate change situation, Port of Rotterdam along with Van Gelder civil engineers and Wavin, suppliers of construction and infrastructure solutions, collaborated to develop data-driven road gullies.
Namely, Rotterdam is seeking a way of being able to estimate more accurately when the port’s road gullies, of which there are more than 13,000, would be full.
To remind, gullies allow rainwater to flow down into the public sewer but catch sand, sludge, waste and leaves. Although as a rule road gullies are cleaned once a year, this is not always necessary.
In light of the above, Wavin’s pilot scheme, which uses smart road gullies, aims to demonstrate how it will be possible to carry out maintenance only when really necessary.
As explained, Wavin, Port of Rotterdam Authority and Van Gelder joined forces and inked a pilot agreement, to fit 16 road gullies with innovative digital sensors that will show how much space there is in each gully.
Therefore, cleaning will take place when the sensor signals the need for it; i.e. maintenance will be based on data.
For the records, this is the first time that a trial of this kind is being conducted in Europe. Over the course of twelve months, the trial will provide a clear answer as to whether the system is operationally, economically and technically feasible.
The trial is in line with the Port Authority’s policy of making the port more efficient through digitisation. This applies not only to our ship admission policy, autonomous shipping and the provision of cargo data, it is also in line with our pursuit of data-driven maintenance.
…as Monique Domsdorf, Head of Asset Management at the Port Authority, concluded.
