ONLYgeotechnics has provided technical support, advice and expert work on a range of port and reclamation projects across Africa, from assisting local developments with the import and export of materials to the extension of major ports. Projects cover a range of geotechnical conditions from soft ground sites to variable rock and fill conditions. Services include ground investigation schemes and design calculations for settlement and stability as well as specialist advice and expert work.
East Port Said Port is located at the mouth of the Suez Canal (within the Suez Canal Economic Zone) to facilitate trading in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
The port was constructed under two phases of development. On completion, the dredging and reclamation works increased the draft of the terminal to a depth of 16.5m, with the terminal covering an extensive area of about 70Ha. The port will be able to process 6 million tonnes of cargo per year.
Developed by Gabon Special Economic Zone Mineral SA, the Mineral Terminal is constructed on 45Ha of reclaimed land. The terminal has the capacity to process 10 million tonnes of cargo annually. The reclamation was completed with hydraulic filling, using fine to medium grain-sized sand.
An expansion of Takoradi Port was developed by the Ghana authorities and its investors. The expansion includes dredging, reclamation and construction of the relevant terminal and port facilities (with the dredging works increasing the water channel of the port to a depth of -16mCD). On completion, the expansion will allow the port to increase its container capacity from 50,000 to 1 million container units.
Located in the Simandou Mountains of southeast Guinea, Simandou iron ore mine is expected to produce 100 million tonnes of iron ore per year. The project included a 650km long railway to transport the extracted iron ore to the west coast. A Ground Improvement Advisory Group (GIAG) was formed to research ground improvement technologies for an iron ore stockpile and handling facility on the Tannah Peninsula.
The site presents geotechnically challenging conditions including the possibility of ground treatment being required – up to 20+m thick. The particular engineering issues to be considered were the settlement, stability and possibility of liquefaction (due to earthquakes and how the appropriate ground treatment technology may be used).The Simandou project differs from Port and Reclamation projects because the 1km x 2km area for stockpiling (included loads exceeding 200kPa, due to the weight of the iron ore).
The Freeport of Monrovia was originally built by the US Military during World War II. An expansion and renovation project to modernise the port was planned by an agreement between the Liberian government and its private operator.
Through the phase two expansion, the entrance and the basin of the channel has been dredged to a depth of 13m (its deepest, historically) to allow larger vessels to dock. The expansion also includes an extended container yard and admin building, having also led to the construction of an upgraded road infrastructure to replace the three-decade-old transport system connected to the port.
The Ijegun Barge Terminal is located in Satellite Town, Lagos, on the banks of Badgery Creek, a tidal waterway that runs up from Lagos Port. The Barge Terminal provides a connecting route for containers arriving at Lagos Port as well as a Truck Yard and Container Depot in Satellite Town. A barge wharf was constructed at Ijegun, Settlement Town, comprising of a back-up area of about 0.6ha for the reclaimed area and about 1.3ha of existing land to the north and west.
An investment up to USD442 million is made to upgrade the port of Berbera in Somaliland to a multi-purpose facility. The upgraded port is designed to serve as an additional hub in the Horn of Africa over three potential development phases:
The upgrade will allow the Port of Berbera to become one of the major trading ports on the Gulf of Aden, near the mouth of the Red Sea.
