Toledo visits the CEPYC and confirms the satisfactory results in the operation and accessibility of ships in Escombreras
- The expansion project of this dock in Cartagena has been analysed in the real time manoeuvrability simulator
- "These highly specialized tests grant a technical prestige to our projects and are a hallmark of quality of the reports issued by Puertos del Estado"
- The 1/100 model of the África de Las Palmas dock will soon be subjected to the physical agitation and operation model
25-09-2020 (Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda) The President of Puertos del Estado, Francisco Toledo, accompanied by the Deputy Director of Planning and Infrastructure, Manuel Arana, visited the facilities of the Centre for Studies of Ports and Coasts (CEPYC), part of the Centre for Studies and Experimentation of Public Works (CEDEX), to verify in situ the work performed on a new configuration of the Escombreras dock, which are demonstrating satisfactory results on the operation and accessibility of ships.
José María Grassa, director of CEPYC, and José María Valdés, director of the Maritime Experimentation Laboratory of this centre, have explained work that, commissioned by Puertos del Estado and the Port Authority of Cartagena, has consisted in the verification and optimisation of the design of the infrastructure, analysing the operability of the configuration both with regard to the behaviour of the ships berthed and the access and exit operations of large ships.
Francisco Toledo has stated that “these highly specialized tests by CEDEX grant technical prestige to our projects and are a sign of quality of the reports issued by Puertos del Estado to guarantee the technical, financial and commercial viability of the projects”.
The aforementioned Cartagena dock expansion project has also been analysed in the real-time manoeuvrability simulator with positive results.
The tests will be completed in the next few days and the final report of the Escombreras de Cartagena dock expansion project will be written.
President Toledo has toured the CEPYC facilities and has had the opportunity to learn about the development of other projects in phases prior to that of the Escombreras dock. This is the case of the África de Las Palmas dock, soon to be subjected to the physical agitation and operation model.
ESCOMBRERAS PROJECT
The configuration proposed by the Port Authority of Cartagena consists of the construction of an esplanade with two sections. The first of the sections extends in an attached manner to the external side of the current Southwest dyke and a second section consists of an extension turned 30º towards the sea, extending up to a length of 1,300 meters.
This new alternative has been the subject of a physical model study for the analysis of wave agitation inside the dock and to verify the behaviour of the ships at berth.
In addition to the physical model study, agitation studies in the accesses and docks caused by waves have been performed by means of numerical modelling, as well as simulation studies of the access and exit manoeuvres of large ships for this new alternative, in both cases for the final configuration as well as for its diverse phases of development.
From the analysis of the results it has been concluded that in all cases the behaviour of the vessels demonstrates high operability in the assigned berths, at all times within the acceptable limits according to the recommendations of ROM and PIANC.
Similarly, in the execution of ship manoeuvres, which has recently been completed and is currently being analysed, no difficulties or restrictions have been detected in the manoeuvres performed for the ships and weather conditions considered in the study.
