The first of eighteen caissons being fabricated for the expansion the Poniente docks arrives at the port of Palma
Palma
09/09/2011
The Balearic Islands Port Authority has, since this morning, the first of the eighteen caissons that are being built for the expansion of the Poniente docks. The expansion will provide berthing for cruise ships of great length. At about half past ten in the morning the tug, Silveira Charuca, docked at Dique del Oeste dock in the port of Palma. It had departed on Wednesday at half past one from the port of Sagunto carrying the piece which is to be submerged early next week.
The caisson, 30 meters long by 15 meters wide by 16.5 meters high, was built during the month of August at the port of Sagunto, Valencia, by the company Cyes. It was designed using 1,692.50 cubic meters of concrete and more than 140,000 kilograms of steel.
Cyes has built nine of the eighteen boxes that are to form the new pier, while the company SATO-OHL will be responsible for the construction of the remaining nine, also in the port of Sagunto. It is expected that by the end of this year all the caissons will be constructed. The pieces will be placed on a foundation of boulders previously formed on the seabed of the port of Palma.
The extension of the Poniente docks in the port of Palma is intended to adapt to new trends in maritime traffic and provide simultaneous berthing for vessels of over three hundred meters in length. The extension consists of eighteen rectangular concrete caissons, separated so as to allow water to circulate through them. This is a major environmental improvement as it allows the continual renewal of water within the inner dock of the harbor. The separation between caissons is maintained by a reinforced concrete slab that will shape the future thirty meter wide pier.
This work will result in land reclamation of 12,643 square meters from the sea, a prolongation of the existing Poniente dock by about fifty meters and the creation of two new berthing lines of approximately 360 meters in length.
