Ghent Port Company has announced that it is starting construction of a 220-metre long quay wall in the port of Ghent. Thanks to the new quay, the arrival of scrap metal and the departure of slag from the blast furnaces of ArcelorMittal Ghent will also be able to take place on water. This investment in new port infrastructure contributes to more sustainable transport by seagoing ships and inland vessels.
Ghent Port Company has earmarked EUR 7.2 million for this new quay wall on the Ghent-Terneuzen canal. ArcelorMittal Ghent is investing EUR 0.6 million. What’s more, the quay can also be used by other companies. The works are being carried out by marine construction company Waterbouwbedrijf Herbosch-Kiere.
The first phase of the work is the pile-driving of over 2,000 tonnes of steel sheet piles and the dredging of 3,000 m³ of earth to 8 metres water depth. The anchoring of the sheet piles is being carried out by means of laid anchors some 30 metres long. 50,000 m³ of material will be used to fill the space between the existing bank and the new quay wall. The capping of the new quay wall will be concreted to below the water line. In the final phase, the upper construction of the quay wall will be carried out. In addition, tube piles will be installed in front of the quay to serve as mooring infrastructure for ships. Finally, the roads behind the quay will be completed.
The new 220-metre long quay wall along the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal will be constructed on the south side of the current quay wall at ArcelorMittal Ghent. The quay wall protrudes 40 metres into the water, although this still keeps it out of the fairway on the Canal. The total surface area of the adjacent concrete floor surface on the wharf is 8,800 m². In front of the quay wall, dredging activities will be carried out to a water depth of 8 metres. At a later stage this can be increased to 10 metres.
The scrap metal shipped to the port is used in the production of steel, while blast furnace slag is used for the production of cement. Steel slag is used for marine construction works or for the sustainable hardening of car parks, roads, paths and driveways. The first ships will be able to moor at the end of September 2017.
This investment in port infrastructure is also an investment in sustainability. ArcelorMittal Ghent is going to transport the existing scrap metal transport via inland navigation and maritime shipping to the greatest extent possible instead of by HGV. This will save 5,000 HGV transports for scrap metal a year. The slag quay will bring about an improvement in internal transport and will make it possible to load the slag directly onto seagoing ships. This will translate into a reduction in CO2 emissions.
This investment follows on from the ambition of the Port Company to provide suitable port infrastructure with better nautical accessibility of and access to the port and to retain existing companies in Ghent. That said, the construction of this quay wall is an innovative way of investing for Ghent Port Company. Very often, infrastructure is built on the basis of predictions after which investors are attracted to the project. In this case, port infrastructure is being built at an existing company. This is then infrastructure that can also be used by other companies.
Ghent Port Company is investing EUR 7.2 million in this new quay wall on the Ghent-Terneuzen canal. For the upper construction on the quay, EUR 0.6 million is being financed by ArcelorMittal Ghent. This project is being co-financed by the European Commission under the TEN-T-programme (Trans-European Transport network).
Source & Image credit: Port of Ghent
