The Roche site of the former mixed landfill “Kesslergrube” in Grenzach-Wyhlen (near Basel) has been “chemical-free” since the end of March 2022. The remediation project was successfully completed at the end of June 2024. The 10-year long-term project was also a logistical tour de force. Haeger & Schmidt Logistics (HSL) formed part of the environmentally friendly transport chain with over 250 barge transports.
On October 1, 2015, Roche Pharma AG in Grenzach-Wyhlen in southern Baden officially started the remediation work on its part of the former “Kesslergrube” mixed landfill site with a ground-breaking ceremony. In the end, more than 360,000 tons of excavated earth were collected, as Roche summarizes in its final report. The masses were transported almost exclusively by an eco-friendly combination of barge and rail.
Roche had 320 special gas-tight and hazard-proof 20-foot containers specially manufactured for loading the contaminated soil. These were filled, cleaned and transported to the thermal disposal facilities a total of 13,447 times. The majority – 13,082 special containers – were transported by barge and rail.
Sustainable logistics concept
To this end, a temporary jetty was built on the banks of the Rhine at the remediation site as a central element of the remediation logistics. The “MS Kenyro” barge used by HSL was berthed there, offering enough space at 110 m in length to transport the containers to the two rail loading stations. “At peak times, we loaded around 100 containers a week into the Swiss Rhine port of Auhafen in Muttenz and around 10 to 15 containers into the port of Weil am Rhein. Those were impressive volumes,” reports Toni Nicolay, Branch Manager of Haeger & Schmidt Logistics (HSL) Neuenburg. As a specialist waste disposal company, HSL was also responsible for ensuring that all suppliers had the necessary permits.
Image source: Roche press photo
Well timed
Nicolay also outlines the time schedule: “The ship loaded with the special containers usually left the jetty in the Kesslergrube in the evening, heading for the Rhine ports. During the night, the containers were transferred to rail. At the same time, empty containers were loaded onto the barge, which the MS Kenyro made available again at the renovation site in the early morning.”
The loaded containers were transported by rail from the Rhine ports to the thermal disposal facilities in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. According to the final report, a total of 277 train journeys were made.
Protected by housing
According to Roche, it invested EUR 239 million in the complete refurbishment. This also included the soundproof and airtight enclosure of the renovation area to prevent pollutants from being released into the environment during excavation. The control center used over ten live cameras to monitor the entire excavation and loading process within the enclosure and the loading onto the barge. In addition, thermal imaging cameras provided information about unwanted heat development in the excavated earth material.
The redevelopment was followed by the renaturation of the banks of the Rhine in the area of the former temporary jetty. At the same time, the redeveloped site was returned to a value-adding commercial and industrial reuse. Now that the redevelopment of the Kesslergrube has been completed, there is nothing standing in the way of a commercial-industrial reuse of the site, according to Roche.
Further Information at https://www.roche.de/unternehmen/was-uns-antreibt/umwelt-nachhaltigkeit/kesslergrube