Port of Świnoujście: A modernised breakwater and LNG terminal with ArcelorMittal sheet piles

Detailed information

Modernisation and diversification

The port authority has been investing in new quays and modernising the existing port infrastructure as well as improving roads and rebuilding rail infrastructure. The main target is to adapt the infrastructure to the requirements of modern transportation systems to increase its competitiveness compared to nearby seaports.

The project of the external port is connected with the government policy of diversification of deliveries of energy-related raw materials to Poland. It includes the construction of LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) terminals and facilities at the port for ships with a draught of 13.5 m and a length of up to 300 m. The LNG terminal, a facility to off-take and re-gasify liquefied natural gas, was designed as an external port situated next to the new larger and longer eastern breakwater that was built from the northeast. South from where the external port is situated are the warehouses and the dispatch section of the terminal. The terminal receives vessels of about 70 000 DWT (dead weight tonnes). Additionally, the new breakwater has turned the external port into a shelter for any vessel at sea near the port.

A combined wall system with quick sheet pile delivery

The 3-km breakwater and the quay wall were built with a combined wall system supplied by ArcelorMittal Commercial RPS from their mills in Luxembourg.

In less than five months, 13 600 tonnes of steel pipes up to 24.6 m long and 3250 tonnes of sheet piles were delivered to the main contractor Hochtief Construction AG, in joint venture with Per Aarslef, Boskalis, and Doraco. The installation works were done from five jack-up platforms with hydraulic hammers.

The loading quay wall itself was built by a joint venture between Möbius, Bunte, and Pihl using an HZM/AZ combiwall system with HZM piles up to 26.8 m and a pipe/AZ combiwall system. The different steel components were installed from a jack-up platform with an IHC S70 hydraulic hammer mounted on a leader fixed on a Hitachi 150 crane.

Additionally, a large technical platform was built on the shoreline.

The breakwater and the quay wall required around 22 690 tonnes of steel foundation elements, and all of the sheet piles were delivered in a very short time frame. The project was inaugurated in October 2015.

Details

Breakwater

Steel tubes (3600 t)
Ø 1 220 mm / 12.5 - 16 mm
Steel grades: API X52, X56, X60, X65 & S 420 MH
Lengths: 15.2 – 28.7 m

Sheet piles (3250 t)
Infill sheets: AZ 18-700 | S 355 GP | 17.0 – 20.0 m
Anchor wall: AZ 13-770 | S 355 GP | 3.0 m

Anchor piles
Up to 38 m

Loading quay wall

HZM/AZ (1100 t)
HZ 880MB-12, HZ 1080MA-12, HZ 1080MB-12 | S 355 GP | 21.7 – 26.8 m
Infill sheets: AZ 14-770-10/10 | S 355 GP | 17.5 – 21.0 m

Steel tubes (3360 t)
Ø 508 / 12.5 mm to 1 870 / 25 mm | S 355J0H | 19.4 – 32.0 m

Technical platform

Steel sheet piles (1380 t)
AZ 18-700, AZ 26-700, AZ 28-700, AZ 37-700, AZ 39-700 | S 355 GP | 20.0 – 23.9 m