Ports of Genoa update: 10,000t caisson installed

Measuring 21.7 metres in height, 40 metres in length and 25 metres wide, the caisson was built on a floating construction site that was set up in the Vado Ligure port. And this is just one of the total number of 90 that will make up the base of the 6km of breakwater being installed by the Pergenova Breakwater Consortium, led by the Italian Webuild Group (40%) and also including Fincantieri Infrastructure (25%), Fincosit (25%), and Sidra (10%).

“Concomitantly to preparing to submerge the next mega blocks, the consortium is also continuing to lay gravel to consolidate the breakwater’s foundations,” says a spokeswoman for Webuild. “As of today, more than 1.5 million tonnes of gravel have been laid, in fact, and approximately 6,000 submerged columns have been built. For this specific activity, there has been a strengthening of the machinery used, with the use of a large barge, which with the pontoon that is already at work will triplicate production.”

Laying caissons is a complicated procedure and this took around 20 days, the spokeswoman said. To prepare for installation, a large barge with 40m cranes deployed 22m needle-shaped vibrating probes to a maximum depth of 50 metres.

It will be a tough job to lay the remaining nine by the end of the year, according to the schedule, but Webuild says the work is going full steam ahead to eventually transform the city of Genoa into a logistics hub for European trade.