MATOLA COAL TERMINAL BERTH DEEPENING

PRDW was appointed by Grindrod Terminals to undertake the design and construction supervision for the berth deepening and upgrading of the fender system at  the Coal Terminal at the Port of Matola which is situated near Maputo. The client required the upgrades to accommodate the loading of larger vessels to increase the terminal throughput.

Construction supervision of the TCM Berth Deepening project was implemented in terms of the FIDIC Red Book Contract.  PRDW undertook the role of the FIDIC Engineer overseeing the construction works and administering the contract. The contractor was Subtech Norte Lda.

PRDW was also responsible for the design and participated in the compilation of the contract document which was produced by Hatch. The project was managed from PRDW’s Cape Town office providing support to the site supervision team which consisted of the Engineer’s Representative and one inspector.

The scope of the project included:

• Quay wall stability design
• Dredging design (based on a dredge depth of -15.4 m CD, as recommended in the reduced offset study)
• Scour protection design
• Western access walkway repair
• Mooring line analysis to determine whether or not the existing 75t bollards can be retained and to finalise the required mooring hook sizes
• Concrete works
• Safety ladders for mooring caissons
• Preparation of Issued for Construction (IFC) drawings
• Preparation and submission of detail design report
• Dredging the existing berth pocket to accommodate larger vessels
• Refurbishment of the existing quay structures
• Installation of a new fendering system to provide a 8.5m cope offset

The detail design of the fendering system was carried out by the Contractor.

The project team was faced with a number of challenges, the most significant ones being unexpected geotechnical conditions that required re-design of the scour protection and additional dredging in rock, and the requirement to carry out the installation of the fenders during a fixed 3 week shut period. The challenges were successfully overcome with minimal disruption to shipping.

S2031/S2032