Pan Mediterranean Engineering Company (PMEC), a unit of China Harbour, is undertaking construction of the new Hadarom Port Project in the Port of Ashdod, Israel. The work included; a 600m extension of the existing breakwater, a 1,500m new breakwater, and construction of two new quays, Quay 27 and Quay 28.
With the increasing size of modern container vessels, underkeel clearance can be very small, and propeller flows very high. To prevent propeller scour and protect the important ground material supporting the quay structure, the berth area is to be protected with 300mm thickness concrete mattress scour protection.
The concrete mattress covers an area of 850m x 39m wide, providing a continuous and sealed concrete apron of 33,000m2 that has the advantage of being significantly thinner than traditional scour protection methods such as multiple layers of rock armour.
Divers will be working at a depth of -17m to install the 190 N° individual panels. The fabric mattress panels are rolled out, positioned and zipped together by diver, to form reliable ball & socket joints when pump-filled with concrete.
The new port will be built 1km north of the current Ashdod Port and will be able to welcome the large 20,000 TEU container ships that presently cannot dock in Israel, with an impressive berth depth of -17.3m.
