Dredging Works for Major Port Expansion in Aarhus, Denmark
Type:
Presented during:
WODCON XXIII - Dredging is changing - The Practice. The Science. The Business.
Authors:
T. Gierlevsen, K.H. Meilstrup
Abstract
" Port of Aarhus has during the last 10 years experienced a positive and stable development in turnover of containers and bulk goods as well as interest in renting of terminal areas. This means that the entire port area is completely occupied and there is a great interest from new and existing companies, who want to establish new port activities or expand existing facilities. The Port has therefore launched a plan for a major 1 km2 port expansion, which includes more than 3 km of new breakwaters, new dredged areas for port basin and turning area as well as two new quay facilities. The new port areas will be reclaimed by reused surplus soil from construction projects in the Aarhus area, which is beneficial for the environment and reduces the need for raw construction materials for the land reclamation. For establishing new harbour basin and turning area, dredging of about 1 mill. m3 of primarily soft sediments is required. Another approximately 800.000 m3 of very soft seabed is to be dredged and replaced with sand under the new breakwaters. All dredged material will be disposed at sea in an environmentally friendly manner at a carefully chosen disposal site. The paper describes the dredging work required for the port expansion project and focuses on the lengthy and very demanding procedures for authority approval, including separate Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for the entire project as well as for the sand borrow area, but also very detailed environmental assessments to obtain approval for disposal of the dredged material at sea. Port expansions projects will always be associated with environmental impact and the goal is to minimise these. However, port facilities are very important for the green transition, which however, does not seem to be fully realised in the current environmental approval procedures."
Keywords: port expansion, dredging, sand extraction, breakwater, soft soil, soil replacement, borrow area, disposal site, environmental impact, sediment spill, sustainability