KNRM Jetty, Marken, Netherlands

Project Overview

Since 1987, KNRM Marken has been one of the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution’s busiest rescue stations, averaging around 100 deployments every year.

Located on the Marken peninsula, around 20 kilometres from Amsterdam, the station serves the busy waters of the Markermeer, where crews regularly respond to stranded recreational and commercial vessels.

Like all KNRM stations, it operates 24 hours a day, crewed entirely by volunteers and funded solely through donations. Collectively, KNRM responds to around 2,300 incidents each year, rescuing or assisting approximately 3,500 people and more than 100 animals.

For a rescue organisation where every second counts, the infrastructure connecting volunteers to their lifeboats is just as important as the vessels themselves.

A Jetty for a New Generation of Lifeboats

The station’s capabilities were recently strengthened with the arrival of two new lifeboats: The Bertien and The Georgine. Together, they represent the most advanced fleet in the station’s history.

To support the new vessels, a completely new jetty was required, providing volunteers with a direct, dependable route from the boathouse to the water.

Safety Proven by Independent Testing

Safety was the defining requirement throughout the project.

Volunteers and permanent staff need to reach the lifeboats quickly in all weather conditions, making reliable slip resistance and long-term durability essential. The jetty is continually exposed to freshwater, with walking surfaces frequently wet as crews respond to emergency callouts throughout the year. In these conditions, the structure also needed to resist corrosion and maintain its performance over the long term with minimal maintenance.

Equally important was confidence that the specified products would perform as required in a demanding marine environment.

d² Dura Grating was selected because it combined proven anti-slip performance, excellent corrosion resistance, anti-slip properties, and a lower embodied carbon footprint than alternative materials.

Designed for Reliable Emergency Response

The completed 136m² jetty was constructed using 45mm d² Dura Grating. Alongside the grating, Dura’s exclusive Netherland’s partner BFF Trading supplied 32 metres of d² Fender Profile and 28 metres of d² Dura Tread Nosing, with installation completed by Van den Biggelaar Grond- en Waterbouw in spring 2026.

The lightweight composite construction reduces structural loading while providing a robust, slip-resistant walking surface that enables volunteers to move safely and quickly between the boathouse and lifeboats whenever they are called into action.

Supporting Lifesaving Operations for the Future

For almost four decades, KNRM Marken has relied on volunteers being able to launch at a moment’s notice.

Today, with a modern fleet and jetty walkway working together, the station has infrastructure designed to support fast, safe emergency response for many years to come. Built to withstand continual exposure to the freshwater marine environment while requiring minimal maintenance, the new jetty provides a dependable long-term solution that matches the dedication of the volunteers who use it.

Safety and compliance were the key priorities throughout this project. The availability of test data gave both Van den Biggelaar and the client complete confidence in the specification, while the lower embodied carbon footprint of the d² Dura range provided an additional benefit over alternative solutions.

Hans Ista

Commercial Sales, BFF Trading

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