RONALD ZEVENBERGEN
Less pleasant, but working efficiently
On the Maasvlakte in the harbour of Rotterdam, a new tank terminal, the HES Hartel Tank Terminal, is being built. The 27 hectare site will house 54 tanks, with a storage capacity of approximately 1.3 million m3. KH Engineering ensures - also in times of corona - that the construction project will continues in terms of engineering.
Ronald Zevenbergen is Project Manager of this major order from HES. KH Engineering is responsible for the design of civil work, steel and piping . ‘We are designing with about fifty people. Because of the size, we have divided the work into areas and we are working in different teams.’ The size makes this project special and makes decisions more important, according to Ronald. ‘For example, if you calculate the costs for grounding the pipes, you are immediately talking about tons of money.’
Working from home
Almost everyone has been working from home since a few weeks. ‘That's new,’ says Ronald. ‘But working online in itself is not. Contact with our partners in Vietnam and Romania via Skype and video conferencing is the most natural thing in the world.’ Working from home is really doable, because KH Engineering has all the necessary tools available for this. ‘We work in a 3D environment. The models are synchronized every day so that all team members work in fully updated models.’
3D-reviews
‘What is different now are the 3D reviews we hold with the customer,’ says Ronald. ‘Normally we get together with about fifteen people and we walk “through the design”. Now there are four or five people online during such a review. What has to be said is said and everyone then goes on with their work. Effective? Certainly. A disadvantage is that you do not get into discussions about other matters. You have little opportunity to show extra interest or to gauge whether someone is experiencing stress or not. I also miss the sociability and personal contact. You can't just walk up to each other to look at a drawing or model and discuss it.’
On schedule
After the basic engineering was delivered in June 2019, KH Engineering started detailed engineering for structural and piping , while the contractor selection process for Piping , Mechanical and Structural was still in full swing. The civil contractor and the tank builder had already started construction in June 2019, with engineering and construction progressing almost equally. ‘Thanks to all the online possibilities, we can continue,’ says Ronald. ‘This is also necessary because contractors otherwise cannot make the correct preparations and the delivery of material will be delayed. Delivery of the detailed engineering is scheduled for June.
Interested in this interesting project? Please visit the website of HES Hartel Tank Terminal or follow their updates on LinkedIn.
To get an impression of this major project, see the video below which have been made in June 2019, after the basic engineering.