One of the biggest hydro projects of recent years is underway

One of the biggest hydrotechnical projects in recent years – modernisation of the system of breakwaters in the Northern Port in Gdańsk – is underway.

Thanks to this large investment, the economic potential of the Port will be improved. Minimisation of weather risks, increase of navigational safety and efficiency of navigation increase its attractiveness and competitiveness. Already today, the Port of Gdansk achieves the best results among the Baltic ports, which is a great success of recent years. We are developing and it brings good results. Modernization of breakwater systems is another proof of that – said Andrzej Adamczyk, Minister of Infrastructure.

The project of modernisation and construction of new breakwaters, together with others carried out by the Maritime Office in Gdynia, falls within the scope of our statutory tasks of providing adequate and modern access infrastructure to ports from the sea. This is the contribution of the maritime administration to building the position of the Port and increasing its efficiency – stated Capt. Wiesław Piotrzkowski, Director of the Maritime Office in Gdynia.

Since 2016, the Maritime Office in Gdynia has been carrying out an investment called “Modernisation of the system of protective breakwaters in the Northern Port in Gdańsk”. The planned completion of the works is the year 2023. The total value of the project is PLN 795 million, including 85% funding from the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment 2014 – 2020. The current financial advancement of the project execution is about 70%. The project is being implemented in the Northern Port of Gdansk on an area of approximately 232 ha (including the dredging area of 145 ha). Within the scope of the project, a system of breakwaters is being extended to cover the eastern side of the North Port.

The core of the hydrotechnical structure, i.e. the breakwaters to be extended, consists of specially prefabricated floating boxes, which were manufactured on a dry dock specially imported from Spain and adapted to the dimensions of the project. An analogous solution was used for the first time during the construction of the Port of Gdynia and another during the construction of the North Port in the 1970s. This time, however, the boxes are not prefabricated on the beach, as was the case with the historic Gdynia construction. For the construction of the boxes, sliding technology was used, which allows for prefabrication of elements in a cycle of about seven days (from 6 to 10, it depends largely on the outside temperature) with a 24/7 operation – said Anna Stelmaszyk-Swierczyńska, deputy director of the Maritime Office in Gdynia for technical matters and also the director’s plenipotentiary for the implementation of the project.

The scope of works, carried out under the project in several separate contracts, concerns

• construction of a new breakwater on the extension of the existing island breakwater (the total length of the new structure will be 853 m) – executed by a consortium of PORR SA – Rover Maritime S.L. – Roverpol Sp. z o.o. – currently in its final phase, completion planned for August 2021
• renovation of the island breakwater north (1625 m long) – tender procedure in progress
• construction of a bird platform to be located between the existing island breakwater and its planned extension – currently being implemented by the consortium of PORR SA – Rover Maritime S.L. – Roverpol Sp. z o.o., completion planned for the end of August 2021
• construction of the new “South-Eastern” breakwater (826 m long) – currently carried out by the consortium of PORR SA – Rover Maritime S.L. – Roverpol Sp. z o.o., completion planned for the end of August 2021
• execution of dredging works on the designed fairways and turntables along with the appropriate placement of navigation signs – the tender (the second one in turn) will be announced at the turn of May and June this year.

Hydrotechnical projects with a high level of complexity are an important part of PORR’s portfolio. The experience we have gained in this area of construction provides a high level and timeliness of execution, as exemplified by the successful completion of the contract carried out in the Northern Port in Gdansk. Together with our consortium partner Rover Maritime S.L. – Roverpol, we are very satisfied with the execution of the task entrusted to us, which will translate to improved safety and capacity of shipping in the port – said Krzysztof Laskowski, Member of the Board of PORR S.A. responsible for infrastructure construction.

rel. PortalMorski.pl