World's Largest Dredger 'Athena' Pumps 5 mln m3 of Sand at Anaklia
On November 7, the world’s largest dredger ship, Athena, completed its large-scale works at Anaklia Port. A record-breaking amount of sand was pumped from the seabed. At this stage, the marine works of Anaklia Port are almost finished.
The total investment value of the first phase of the project is $600 million and it includes employing 1500 people in the construction works.
The second stage of marine works will start in a few months and includes deepening the seabed to the planned operational depth.
Within the framework of the first phase of the project, one of the world's largest dredging vessels ‘Athena’ pumped about 5 million m3 of sand at the Anaklia Deep Sea Port and moved it to dry land. This is already 100% of works planned for the first stage of construction.
Construction during Phase I included:
• Dredging of the port’s maritime area down to a depth of 16 meters;
• Dredging millions of cubic meters of sand and reclaiming it onshore to surcharge the terminal area;
• Construction of a 1.6 km breakwater which will be constructed using 1.3 million tons of rock and concrete armor units;
• Construction of a 625 meter long quay wall with multifunctional capabilities, along with 110 hectares for paved container yard port operations, customs and other supportive buildings.
The port infrastructure built during Phase I will enable Georgia to dock 10,000 TEU Panamax and Post-Panamax vessels, which are unable to dock at other seaports in Georgia.
At the time of its opening in 2021, Anaklia Deep Sea Port will be able to handle 1 million TEU containers and 1.5 million tons of dry bulk annually.
Anaklia Deep Sea Port will be constructed in 9 Phases. The total investment value of the project is $2.5 billion.
The most important works were completed just 1.5 months after starting the large-scale maritime works, with the local population working alongside specialists of the Dutch Van Oord company.
The world’s leading contracting company, Van Oord specializes in dredging and land reclamation and has already implemented many important projects throughout the world, including land reclamation, dredging, and beach nourishment. Projects undertaken by the company include the construction of the Palm Islands in Dubai and expansion of the Suez Canal.
The company is significantly contributing to the construction works of Anaklia Port. Van Oord is the first constructor, contractor, and investor. 5 million m3 of sand is a record-breaking number. In using other methods, 450,000 trucks would have been necessary to bring the same amount of sand out of the sea.
Alongside the dredging and reclamation works, the installation of modern, latest technology drainage systems provided by Van Oord is also almost complete. 241,429 drainage units have been installed, with a system of a total length of 2.5 million meters. The above-mentioned system is used for filtering the huge amount of sand from the water automatically.
The large-scale works at Anaklia Deep Sea Port were launched on 16 September.
Anaklia Deep Sea Port will begin commercial operations in December 2020.
By Ana Dumbadze