Port expansion of Puerto de Lirquén, Chile

Port expansion of Puerto de Lirquén, Chile

De Fockert, A.
Graafland, T.
Paap, E.
Van der Plas, T.
Roubos, A.

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Hydraulic Engineering

2005-12-01

The container yard of the port of Lirquen will reach its capacity in a few years and the container terminal has no landward expansion possibilities to meet the future demand of container throughput. The bulk terminal has a lack of berths, due to increased throughput and insufficient depth, but does have possibilities for landward expansion. Looking at the actual growth of container throughput and the expected growth for the far future, it is clear that the main problem is the surface area. For efficient port operations it is necessary to expand. The planned expansion of 10ha is far enough until 2016. The 2 berths are in fact sufficient until 2017, but to keep the waiting time low it is necessary to install 2 extra mobile cranes. One is already planned in February 2006 and the second should be installed before 2013. Both planned and recommended expansions are necessary to maintain the efficiency and the competitive status of the port of Lirquen. Different alternatives for the expansion of the piers were considered and it was decided by the port authorities that the pier number 2 has to be expanded by 250 meters. The basic design of the old pier was optimized to a new construction. After that, calculations were made to determine the dimensions that are achievable. Because there are many things that have to be investigated, recommendations were made to correctly design the pier in detail. The execution of the expansion area (without water, electricity services, etc.) of 10ha can be finished in about 12 weeks. This time span mainly depends on the equipment and the supply rate of Bio Bio sand. The total costs have been calculated at 17,4 million dollars. The lifetime of the expansion is 50 years. The revetment consists of 2 layers of loose rock with stone class LMA 40-200, applied at the toe and to LLWL. From LLWL up to the limit of the wave run-up (+5,1m LLWL) stone class LMA 60-300kg is applied. To prevent soil wash out and pressure build up, a geotextile is applied. With type GEOfabrics HPS5, the stone can be applied directly on this layer. The overlapping is 0,5 to 1,0m, and the filter extends from toe up to the crest of the dike.

Chile
port development
port planning
pier construction

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