The bridge to Ostrów is ready

Sheet pile wall driving at the Czeskie Quay and pile-driving works at the Norweskie and Duńskie Quays. In addition, the construction of a platform on the Ostrów Mieleński island. These works are currently being carried out at the Port of Szczecin, as part of a project to improve access to the port in the area of the Dębicki Canal.

The investment in the Port of Szczecin includes, among others, reconstruction of the Czeskie and Słowackie Quays on a length of approximately 1,000 meters. All the demolitions were carried out in the first, 316 meters long stage. A new pile wall will be erected at the demolition site and a new reinforced concrete structure will be constructed along with the installation of the entire quay equipment. These will be mooring bollards, fenders, and rescue ladders. There are also plans to reconstruct the road and rail infrastructure as well as carry out sanitary, telecommunication and electrical works.

“We are currently performing the first stage of the reconstruction of the Czeskie Quay, i.e. sheet pile wall driving and pipe laying in the underwater part, together with making ground anchors. We plan to start reinforced concrete works from mid-January,” reports Piotr Arabczyk, Project Director at NDI.

Depth of 12.5 meters

Importantly, the Czeskie and Słowackie quays are the most intensely used bulk cargo quays in the Port of Szczecin. The investment will enable them to handle the largest ships – after the modernisation of the Świnoujście-Szczecin fairway – up to a depth of 12.5 m.

In addition, the project provides for the construction of new Norweskie and Duńskie quays. Currently, pile-driving works are underway there, i.e. sheet pile wall driving, which is already 100% ready on the Norweskie Quay, and about 5% on the Duńskie Quay. Ground anchors and reinforced concrete elements are also made at the Norweskie Quay.

Platform on the island

But this is not the end of the works in the Port of Szczecin. As part of the reconstruction of the Dębicki Canal, it is also planned to prepare a stockpiling site for the dredged material on the Ostrów Mieleński island, strengthen the bottom and carry out dredging works, which will allow for increasing the maximum technical depth by 2.5 meters.

“On the Ostrów Mieleński island, work is currently underway on the construction of a working platform that will serve as the basis for the construction of the embankment. After the construction, the embankments will serve as a stockpiling site for dredging works,” explains Piotr Arabczyk, Project Director from NDI.

1.5 million cubic meters of dredged material from the bottom of the Dębicki Canal will be stored there. This is roughly the amount that would fill the newly built Pogoń Stadium four times.

Military bridge over the Duńczyca

In order to be able to efficiently transport the material for the construction of embankments on the island, a temporary pontoon bridge has just been installed over the Duńczyca.

“These are military platforms of the PP64 “Wstęga” type. For the purposes of the investment, we collected 120 pieces of such platforms,” says the Project Director from NDI “Installation will be performed using a double ribbon method of assembly, i.e. two bridge threads will be connected in parallel to each other. The crossing will have a high load capacity necessary for haulers that will transport sand for the construction of embankments,” explains Piotr Arabczyk.

All works under the project “Improving access to the port of Szczecin in the area of the Dębicki Canal” are to be completed in September 2023. The investor is Zarząd Morskich Portów Szczecin i Świnoujście SA, and the general contractor is the consortium of NDI Sopot SA and NDI SA. The cost of the investment is over PLN 343 million gross.