Columns submerged for 6.2km Genoa breakwater

The Italian engineering firm Webuild Group says it has submerged 1,320 gravel columns with material supplied from quarries in Liguria, Piombino and Cartagena in Spain and transported to Genoa on three bulk carriers.

A large barge equipped with four 40m tall cranes, each with 22m needle-shaped vibrating probes, is moored at the port, ready to build the caissons that will be at the heart of the breakwater. The building of the caissons is scheduled to begin next month.

“These huge cellular reinforced concrete blocks, when built, at a maximum depth of 50 metres, one next to the other, will complete the 6.2 kilometres foreseen for the breakwater project,” says the Webuild Group.

“Phase A of the project foresees the construction of 97 caissons, of which the largest will be each as tall as a 10-storey building, therefore reaching 33 metres in height, 35 metres in width, 67 metres in length.”

It has also been necessary to carry out UXO searches, 70% of which are now complete, the firm says, with the remainder due to be completed this summer.

Costs have risen in the project, from a projected €930 million when the contract was signed to €1.3 billion at the stone-laying ceremony last May.

International Media Relations spokesman Gilles Castonguay said the project was ‘unique in the world’ for scale and complexity.

The breakwater will provide safe access for today’s 450m long ships, which cannot use the Port of Genoa in its current form. A new 800m turning basin will give the port, Webuild says, the ability to compete with Europe’s biggest ports.