SURE ZINC MAGAZINE – JANUARY 2026
Welcome to ZEKER ZINK’s first digital magazine of 2026. We kick off the new year with a theme that is very much alive within our industry: hot-dip galvanized steel in bridge construction.
Bridges are literally and figuratively connections, between shores, regions, people and economies, and behind those connections often lies a silent but crucial force: sustainable corrosion protection.
In this issue, we highlight hot-dip galvanized steel as a reliable, robust and circular solution for both temporary and permanent bridges. We do this in part through an extensive interview with Janson Bridging. This international family business has been building modular bridge solutions for more than fifty years that are used worldwide, often in demanding conditions. The conversation with John Kerkhoff clearly reveals why hot-dip galvanizing is not a detail for them, but a fundamental building block for reuse, service life and reliability.
In addition, on March 3, 2026, we invite you to the webinar “Galvanized steel in bridge construction: a no-brainer,” where we will elaborate on the technical, economic and sustainable benefits of hot-dip galvanizing within infrastructure projects.
This digital edition of ZEKER ZINK comes at a special time: you are reading this magazine on our brand new website. With this new platform, we want to bring together knowledge sharing and inspiration around everything related to hot-dip galvanizing. Feel free to take a look and let us know what you think!
We hope you enjoy reading and hope this edition shows why hot-dip galvanized steel plays such an important role in bridge construction.
For more than 50 years, Janson Bridging has been building temporary and modular bridge solutions worldwide. John Kerkhoff has been on board for 22 years and has seen the family business grow into an international player with tens of thousands of tons of steel in circulation. We spoke with him about steel bridge rental, circularity and the role of hot-dip galvanizing.
Janson Bridging has officially existed since 1972. We started with the rental of surplus bridge equipment from the period after World War II, as used by the Department of Public Works and Defense . That grew into what we are today: a company that rents and sells modular steel bridges worldwide. Today we own about 30,000 tons of steel, spread across several European locations.
Because our customers are mostly contractors. Some 95% need a bridge temporarily: for detour, calamities, works on waterways or highways. Governments initiate the construction of bridges in concrete, wood or steel, but the execution of the specifications usually ends up with the contractor - and he engages us. So we are often a subcontractor, although in emergencies we also speak directly to governments or even to the military.
Absolutely. Governments themselves hardly keep emergency bridges in stock anymore. We do. That allows us to move quickly in crises. Think of floods, collapsed bridges or military applications. In Wallonia today, some of our bridges are still in place after previous emergencies. That's what we call "availability rather than possession.
We have essentially been circular for 50 years. In the Netherlands they now call it IFD: industrial, flexible and demountable. That's exactly what we do. Our systems consist of standardized elements, like Lego blocks. They are built up, broken down, modified and reused. We even give guest lectures about this: circularity is not only reuse of the material, it is certainly also in the dismantlable design and the detachability of the connections.
Sure. Galvanizing is a perfect fit for a disassembly system. You work with bolted connections, you can reuse parts and they stay well protected. Compared to painting, galvanizing is much more robust. Paint is easily damaged during assembly and disassembly. A zinc coating can take a beating.
The dimensions of the zinc bath can sometimes be a limitation. You can't galvanize a 20-meter beam just like that. And if we know that parts often have to be modified or welded later, we sometimes opt for other solutions or for zinc-rich paint systems. But for many components, hot-dip galvanizing is simply the best combination of lifespan, maintenance and cost price.
Crucial. Our bridges are often in wet, remote or aggressive environments. Maintenance is not evident there. Then galvanizing is an enormous added value. For example, we have installed fully galvanized bridges in Italy and Sri Lanka. Some temporary bridges remain there for years or even permanently. Then you want to be absolutely sure of the protection.
You work mainly with steel?
About 95% of our stock is steel. We have some aluminum and a little composite to supplement it. Composite has interesting properties for specific applications, such as lightweight bicycle bridges. But steel remains unsurpassed in modularity, reuse and availability.
That's true if you look at it purely from ore to new steel. But our systems are reused for decades. As a result, that initial impact falls away more and more. Of course a bridge has a finite lifespan due to fatigue, but with inspections and good maintenance you can extend it greatly. Galvanizing plays a key role in this
In Germany, we built an 800-meter bridge in a swamp area within a year. In Italy, we quickly installed a fully galvanized emergency bridge after a flood - it's still there today. We also supply worldwide: from Ghana and Togo to Suriname, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Our systems are deliberately easy to assemble, often with local contractors and limited resources. Galvanized steel is ideal for this: durable, transportable and low-maintenance.
Bridges connect people. That may sound romantic, but in Africa or Asia you really make a difference with infrastructure. You create access to work, care and education. And technically we want to offer professional, safe and sustainable solutions. Hot-dip galvanizing is not a detail in that, but a fundamental building block."
On March 3, 2026, Zinkinfo, together with Building with Steel and Infosteel, is hosting a webinar on hot-dip galvanized steel bridges.
In this webinar, experts explain how and why it should be an obvious choice for clients to choose hot-dip galvanizing as a surface treatment for steel bridges. They also refute with clear arguments some persistent misunderstandings about the application of hot-dip galvanizing on fatigue-sensitive structures. Finally, we also elaborate on the excellent performance of hot-dip galvanizing in terms of service life and circularity.
Balustrades, balconies, canopies, all types of urban furniture, as well as guardrail systems, light poles and traffic portals are examples where discontinuous hot-dip galvanizing ensures maximum service life of the steel components.
Bridges are also particularly suitable for this type of corrosion protection, as long as the designers take into account certain boundary conditions such as the maximum length of the parts to be galvanized. Durable corrosion protection is particularly necessary for traffic and railroad bridges, given the significant impact on the Total Life Cycle Cost and the environmental impact associated with repeated repainting of the steel.
1:30 p.m. – Content.
Wim Hoeckman, engineer-architect, em. prof. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, independent expert/consultant: The benefits and challenges of galvanized steel bridges
Barbara Rossi, Associate Professor at the University of Oxford: Design Aspects – Fatigue
Bruno Dursin, Believe in Steel: durability and hot-dip galvanizing
Q&A
2:30 p.m. – End
