Port Of Limburg

The closureof the former Ford site in Genk was a blow to the Limburg economy. The plan wasconceived to revitalize the approximately 134-hectare site and design alogistics HUB consisting of a number of large zones: a logistics warehouse HUB,a central access zone with space for infiltration basins, access roads andgeneral management functions, a logistics zone for Essers, and a zone formultimodal storage and transshipment to the railway and Albert Canal.

Commissionedby Intervest Offices and Warehouses, the winning master plan for the logisticsreconversion of the large former Ford site was drawn up. The developmentconcerns 250,000 m² of logistics warehouses. Group Machiels and Group Essersjoined forces to develop the multimodal site along the Albert Canal under thename Port of Limburg (POL), aiming to process 350,000 TEU annually, whichcorresponds to 350,000 fewer trucks driving between the Port of Antwerp and thehinterland each year. In collaboration with these parties, Tractebel, and DeVlaamse Waterweg (The Flemish Waterway), a design was drawn up for a brand-newinland port.

Themultimodal hub relies primarily on a new 433 m long quay at the Albert Canal for3 ships with 3 gantry cranes and a 30,410 m² bulk transshipment zone. Thecontainer storage and transshipment consists of a logistics handling zone and a51,000 m² container terminal for container handling with reach stackers.

The designalso includes a 10,500 m² building cluster with the HQ office for Port ofLimburg, a workshop for reach stacker maintenance, a number of Value AddedService buildings (POL/ICL/filling hall), and 36,000 m² of cooled compartmentedwarehouse transshipment (yet to be realized).

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