摘要: |
A general description of the Port of Zeebrugge and the actual main port activities demonstrate that ro-ro traffic is of major importance. Since the decision was made by Toyota Car Company to make Zeebrugge its distribution center for Western Europe, the Port Authority had to provide new unloading facilities in the south dock of the inner port which is practically the only place where still sufficient place is available. Two large car transport ships with a load capacity of 6,000 cars and a dead weight of 45,000 tons were expected weekly and in order to handle these vessels it was decided to build two roro jetties. The contractor was appointed early December 1999 and immediately the design activities were started up. The first ship was expected in July 2000 and this implied that the first jetty had to be operational by that time. Taking into account some delay to obtain official approvals and permits, the remaining construction time for a deep water jetty with a deck surface of approximately 7500m2 (dimensions of a football field) was only 4 months! To achieve this it was necessary to use a construction technique with maximum prefabrication, and therefore the following design has been worked out. The jetties are supported by steel tubular piles placed in a grid of 4m in the longitudinal direction of the jetty and 12/14m in the transverse direction. The piles were driven in the soil with a powerful vibratory hammer from a rig on a self-elevating platform. The piles were connected at the top in the transverse direction of the jetty by means of prefabricated prestressed concrete I-beams. These girders were then connected with prestressed hollow prefabricated plate elements on top of which a continuous reinforced concrete layer was poured in place. The mooring facility further consists of a number of dolphins with bollards, in order to avoid horizontal actions on the jetty. Two types of dolphins have been foreseen according to the velocity of the vessel, which is expected to be maximum 0.4m/sec at the beginning of the jetty and 0.15m/sec at the end. A new concept of dolphin has been worked out in order to facilitate |