VolkerStevin and Boskalis complete work <br> on extension at UK’s largest port
The latest extension to the Port of Felixstowe, the UK’s largest container port was officially opened by Dr Thérèse Coffey MP, Parliamentary Secretary and Deputy Leader of the House of Commons.
€48m project
The €48m project to extend the port’s 9th berth by 190m was completed by VolkerStevin and Boskalis Westminster under a joint venture (VSBW). Works to create the new berth and its approaches involved dredging over one million cubic metres of material to enable a steel piled quay wall to be built.
The reclamation of land back from the sea began in April 2014 with the mobilisation of dredging equipment. A piled cell was constructed and filled during tidal conditions. Works to the berth also involved the laying of tracks to enable three new ship-to-shore cranes to operate along the extension.
190-metre extension
Eighty 18,000+TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) ships have already been handled at the port in 2015 and the 190-metre extension increases the port’s capability to berth two of the world’s largest containerships simultaneously.