Monday 8 September 08 - 17:52
 

Marine Civils by David Foxwell

Innovative Technology Employed at Port of Cartagena

An innovative solution has been adopted to speed up the construction of new jetties at the Spanish port of Cartagena, in the province of Murcia in the south of Spain.

Above left: A tug tows one of the huge concrete blocks to its destination.
Above left: A tug tows one of the huge concrete blocks to its destination.

Massive concrete blocks are being constructed with which to build the jetties, which, it is claimed, are the largest of their type ever built, measuring some 70m x 35m x 35m.

NECSO, the prime contractor for the project, constructed a large catamaran style concrete block builder especially for the project.

The Kugira , a concrete block builder mounted on an enormous catamaran, is capable of building a super-size block every seven days, served by the concrete factory that has been erected at the port.

The Kugira uses a hydraulically operated system to lift and lower the 'construction umbrella' that holds the block formers. On both sides of the catamaran, 15 sets of stage-lifting hydraulic units operate the 35m wide and 70m long umbrella.

The system is controlled by a PLC developed by Enerpac.

Images for this article - click to enlarge

Above left: A tug tows one of the huge concrete blocks to its destination.
Above right: A concrete block under construction on the Kugira and almost ready to be towed into place.
NESCOs Kugira is the largest concrete block builder in the world.

Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright © Mercator Media 2008. This does not exclude the owner's assertion of copyright over the material.

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