Pile re-anchoring needed at showcase terminal

Port of Kiel MD Dirk Claus and other officials are reported to be hopeful that the re-anchoring work will not be held up over the next few months by snow and ice, a regular winter feature of the North German Baltic coastal region. Even if it were, however, the officials were confident that ships could always be diverted to Kiel’s new Berth 1 Ostuferhafen Terminal. Inaugurated just last June and being expanded this year and next, that new facility is part of a €5.4m development project.

The re-anchoring work at the €28.5m Ostseekai, hailed as a technical masterpiece when it opened in 2007, follows routine groundwork inspection of the 92 steel anchor pilings on the 360m long Berth 27, one of two berths at the terminal.

During the inspection it was discovered that eight of the 40m long pilings, driven at an angle of 55 degrees and designed to hold the quay wall, had been torn out and several others damaged. Experts were examining the pilings in February to find out what caused the loosening.

In comments to Maritime Journal, Port spokesman Ulf Jahnke stressed that the piles were not being repaired but re-anchored and reported that the work would cost up to €2m.

He said further 20m steel pilings were being driven on land 40m behind the Berth 27 quayside and linked horizontally to provide extra strength. Mr Jahnke said heavy machinery, including land-based drilling equipment was being used, but it was not immediately revealed who was carrying out the work.

In charge of the original 2006/2007 construction of the 40,000m2 terminal with its total 192 quayside anchor and load-bearing piles, was Schnittger Architekten. Also involved in the construction, it was reported at the time, were the firms of Köster, H.O.Schlüter, Steintech Ottens, A. Gabriel and metal firms Zander Metallbau, Berke WMB Technik, H.H. Müller and Butzkies Stahlbau.

Mr Jahnke told MJ the re-anchoring of pilings would be completed by early May and in good time for the start of the busiest period of the 2014 cruise shipping season.

In April, the 38,557gt AIDAcara is due to call several times at the Ostseekai Terminal. It will use the smaller 285m Berth 28 and so, now, will the biggest cruise ship to visit Kiel this year, the 114,288gt Costa Pacifica. That vessel is due at the terminal in late April for the first of a dozen visits to Kiel this year.

By early May however, both berths be needed for the first of the year’s double dockings.

By Tom Todd