Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and Premier Wen Jiabao Visit Herrenknecht Plant in Guangzhou

Feb 23, 2012

The German Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited the Herrenknecht plant (HTE) in Guangzhou in February 2012. German high technology is very much in demand on the Chinese growth market – tunnel boring machines from Herrenknecht are used in many major infrastructure projects in China.

In February 2012, Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel, together with Wen Jiabao, Premier of the People’s Republic of China, visited the Herrenknecht plant in Guangzhou as part of her trip to China. The delegation included, among others, 20 high-level representatives of German industry. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Martin Herrenknecht, Chairman of the Board of Management of Herrenknecht AG, presented the company to Federal Chancellor Merkel and Premier Wen, and talked about important Chinese, but also international reference projects. In addition, he introduced a tunnel boring machine, an Earth Pressure Balance Shield with a diameter of 6.95 meters, which is being used in the construction of the Metro Line 2 in Dongguan.
 
Herrenknecht has been represented on the Chinese growth market since the delivery of the first machine for the construction of the Beijing metro in 2000. In the meantime, Herrenknecht is generating around 20 percent of its group sales in China. The huge economic growth and increasing urbanization result in a high demand for efficient underground traffic and supply infrastructures. Up to now, Herrenknecht technology is being used in 275 projects, mostly for inner-city tunnel construction. As many as 480 kilometers of tunnel tubes were built using Herrenknecht technology over the past years, while a further 200 kilometers are being planned. For metro construction alone, 172 machines have been and are still being used in 18 cities.
 
Until now, the construction of two double-story traffic tunnels in Shanghai to connect Changxing river island with the mainland is among the most important projects. The construction was carried out by two of the worldwide biggest tunnel boring machines with a diameter of 15.43 meters each. As part of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, Herrenknecht machines crossed beneath the Yellow River near Zhengzhou. Two machines with a diameter of 9 meters each drove two 4.25 kilometer long tunnels – down to 36 meters below the water level.
 
Herrenknecht maintains 9 locations in China – 6 sales and service locations as well as 3 manufacturing and assembly plants – with a total of 850 members of staff. This is a win-win situation for both the locations in Germany and in China. Employees were not only hired in China, around 1,000 additional jobs were also created in Germany to meet the growing need for and demand in tunnel boring machines in Asia. The Herrenknecht (Guangzhou) Tunnelling Equipment Co., Ltd. (HTE) branch, visited by the Federal Chancellor and the Premier, is a 100 percent subsidiary and the first plant established by Herrenknecht in China (2002). The Herrenknecht Group is the world market leader for mechanized tunnelling technology. The family-run company employs around 4,000 members of staff worldwide, more than 2,000 of them at the German company headquarters in Schwanau.

Contact

Herrenknecht AG

Achim Kühn

Schlehenweg 2

77963 Schwanau

Germany

Phone:

+49 (0) 7824 / 302-5400

Fax:

+49 (0) 7824 / 302-4730

E-Mail:

pr@herrenknecht.com

Internet:

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