Large-Scale Extension Works at Port of Cherbourg

The Ports of Normandy Authority (PNA) has officially launched large-scale extension works of the port of Cherbourg’s main roadstead, which will be a milestone in the history of the port’s development.

The quality and consistency of the project, together with its long-term effects on local growth and employment, have convinced the French government, the European Union (EU) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) to back up PNA’s project. The FEDER and the Contrat de Plan Inter-Régional (CPIER) will contribute nearly 25 million euros in subsidies. The EIB also granted a loan with advantageous terms.

Works on the project are set to begin in mid-March and will last 18 months. They will be managed by the company SODRACO, a subsidiary of the Belgian group Jan de Nul, associated with DTP Terrassements, a subsidiary of Bouygues Construction.

The works consist of building a breakwater 1.8 km long made of 250,000 tonnes of riprap, each boulder weighing five to six tonnes. This breakwater will help contain the five million cubic meters of dredged materials that will form the future harbor land.

Phase one of the works will last seven to eight months. It will consist of dredging and rock excavating the sea bottom located between the channel and the harbor land attached to the Quay des Flamands.

These large-sized materials will constitute part of the breakwater’s core. They will be completed with riprap extracted from quarries, some of which are local, and transported by trucks.

As the construction work on the breakwater progresses, dredging will provide sand that will form the embankment. To perform this operation, the SODRACO has committed to hiring unemployed workers to complete up to a minimum of 5% of the worksite’s total labor hours, in compliance with the contract terms.

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