Klaipeda North Port: Feasibility study - Computer modelling

Klaipeda North Port: Feasibility study - Computer modelling

Verschuure, C.

Ligteringen, H. (mentor)
Groenveld, R. (mentor)
Booij, N. (mentor)
Van der Lem, J.C. (mentor)

Frederic R. Harris B.V.

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

2000-06-01

This report presents a study on an extension of the port of Klaipeda, Lithuania. The Klaipeda State Seaport Authority (KSSA) is in charge of the management and the provision of efficient hinterland connections. It considers increasing the depth to - 18 m CD at the quays necessary for attracting more cargo. This maximum depth is governed by the largest vessels that can enter the Baltic Sea. The port, therefore, wants to know the surplus value of this extra depth. The following questions are raised in this study: 1. what cargoes are likely to be captured with an extra depth of - 18 m CD? 2. where can the extra deepening be realised? 3. is a depth of - 18 m CD needed? A study on the present traded cargo and future expectations of cargo pointed out that the most important growth markets will be container trade and coal trade. The coal will be used for the supply of energy. The present energy supply of Lithuania is produced by a nuclear power plant close to Ignalina. This is a plant of the Tjernobyl type. The safety at this power plant is not optimal and the lifetime of the plant ends by 2005-2010. Therefore a new power plant which is coal fired is assumed in this study. The possibilities of using the existing port for the deepening are investigated and it is concluded that the deepening of the complete existing port seems rather expensive because of the present quay structures and the total volume of dredging works. The existing quay structures must be improved in case the port is deepened because its fundaments do not reach deep enough and stability cannot be guaranteed. Further, the space in the port is limited for constructing the associated terminals and the presence of the city obstructs efficient through transport to the hinterland. Another problem for the expansion of the existing port for larger depth is the width of the present entrance channel. The present entrance channel is narrow and widening is difficult because of the presence of the breakwaters. The largest vessels which can enter the Baltic Sea cannot enter the port of Klaipeda, unless the breakwater layout is adjusted, which is rather expensive. In order to calculate whether the depth of 18 meter is justified, four transportation schemes are discussed. Four alternatives are used for transporting the total volume of coal using different depth in the entrance channel and port.For the four alternatives the total cost of transporting the coal from the sending port to the power plant is calculated. These costs consist of cost of chartering the vessels which are needed for transporting the 15 million tons of coal, construction of the port which will determine the port tariffs and the through transport costs from the port to the power plant. These costs are described in table i by Sea for the sea transport, by Port for the port tariff and Land for the overland transport cost.

port extension
hinterland connections

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:42a61df3-ef22-41a9-a985-85c10393d8f6

TU Delft, Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Hydraulic Engineering

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2000 Verschuure, C.