The first phase of the Felixstowe South Reconfiguration (FSR) is almost complete, apart from the land-side works, and all the various dredgers, hopper barges, survey vessels and ancillary craft have now left the port.
The expansion of the UK’s largest container terminal, which started midway through 2008, has included reclamation of 28 hectares of land including the original dock basin and some of the harbour, gaining an additional 730m of quay wall, to be equipped eventually with 13 new quayside cranes and 50 rubber tyred gantry cranes.
Rail connections have also been improved, with a new terminal, tracks and sidings and rail mounted cranes. The reclaimed land has swallowed up the old Dooley and Landguard terminals and has involved demolition of the tank farm, oil jetty, and various port buildings. A sheltered tug berth is being created in the angle between the old and the new quays.
Dredging took well over a year, re-aligning the main shipping channel and creating a 16m deep berthing pocket alongside the new quay to accept two more ultra large container ships. The main contractor has been Costain, while the capital dredging has been carried out by Royal Boskalis Westminster.
Work began when the Red7 Marine (Haven Ports) jack-up barge Haven Seaway started core sampling off the dock entrance. The Sea Devil started dismantling the piers, and the piles were removed by the heavy lift sheerlegs GPS Atlas.
In September 2008 the group MD of Hutchison Port Holdings, John Meredith, shovelled the first ceremonial bucketful of material into the Dock Basin and the dredgers Cornelia and WD Medway II started removing the soft material. The backhoe dredger Manu Pekka excavated a trench along the line of the new quay to be back filled with sand.
Dredging continued with the plough dredger Humber Sentinel and hopper barges assisted by Avra Towage’s 30m twin screw tug North. The diving support vessel Merlin, multicat Lesley M and survey vessels Geo Explorer and Shamrock were also deployed, and water injection operations were carried out by the Norma.
Excavated material from the trenches was loaded into the split hopper barges Long Sand and Cork Sand. Quay infill material was deposited by Cornelia, Crestway and Barent Zanen, which had started partial dredging of the Harwich Shelf area in preparation for channel widening. The spreader pontoon HAM 1208 and a 450m floating pipeline were also involved.
Preparation for piling was carried out by crane barges Atlas and Stemat78, barges Costain 12 and Costain 14, multicat Forth Boxer, and Hope Enterprise.
In June 2009, the backhoe/dipper/grab dredger Maricavor was positioned at the Shelf by the tug South, which had replaced the North. The hard spoil was loaded into barges and taken out to the 50m deep Inner Gabbard spoil ground. The dumb barge movements were assisted by the Shoalbuster Janette B.
As the channel widening entering the final stages, Holyhead Towage’s mutlitug Afon Goch began levelling the new area to a depth of 14.5m. The Damen built and operated Shoalbuster DMS Globe took over the final plough dredging and flattening. On February 17, Maricavor left the Haven under tow for Dordrecht. The same day the shelf channel marking buoys were repositioned and the new fairway was opened.
Construction on the quayside continues on schedule and the first delivery of cranes from ZPMC is expected in April/May. The first trial berthing is due later in the year.
Source: Maritime Journal, March 11, 2010; Image: Flickr, July 8, 2010
