Master plan Porto Romano Bay, Albania

Abstract

Albania has the following major sea ports: Durrës, Vlora, Sarandë and Shëngjin. The port of Durrës has the biggest share in the volume of import/export in Albania, nearly 75%. Due to current development rates, limited possibilities for expansion and pollution in the city because of its vicinity to the port, projects are identified to construct a new port which will better meet increasing needs and demands. This gives a reason to do research on the possibilities of constructing port facilities at an alternative location. This new ‘port’ is designed in the Durrës area. To design a new port, information is needed about future trade and traffic anticipated in the future. An effort was made to make some forecasts in order to render this report more realistic. The produced forecasts are bases on a combination of past data extrapolation, trade and traffic trends as well as insight in the situation of Albania and hinterland connections. The master plan duration, which will be 25 years (2010-2035), is divided into three periods. Three different growth scenarios were taken into account. This report has been based on the medium growth scenario (4.3%, 3.8% and 3.1 % increase in the total trade of Albania in tons for the three time periods respectively). Assuming a medium growth scenario 1,807,000 tons of dry bulk will be handled in Porto Romano in 2035, 774,000 tons liquid bulk, 1,033,000 tons general cargo and 215,111 TEUs. When Romano Port starts functioning, it is immediately able to accommodate container vessels up to 45,000 dwt. For dry bulk it is assumed that the port should be able to accommodate vessels up to 40,000 dwt. The General Cargo vessels which currently enter the port of Durrës have an average size of 4,000 dwt. Although in general the size of General Cargo vessels remains relative small the average ship is expected to increase up to 10,000 dwt in 2035, with a maximum of 15,000 dwt. The maximum ship size for the liquid bulk terminal is assumed at 25,000 dwt. Taking into account the above forecasts, the future needs concerning terminal areas, berths and equipment were depicted. The container terminal will require a storage area of 440,000 m2 and a berth length of 466 meter. Dry bulk needs an area of 62,000 m2 and a berth length of 240 meter. General cargo will require a storage area of 84,000 m2 and a berth length of 543 meter. For the liquid bulk terminal, no additional berth is required. Ten alternatives were generated based on the future needs above. Three of them were discussed in more detail. Several affecting parameters were taken into account like extensibility, tranquillity, manoeuvrability etc. The comparison among these alternatives was conducted with the help of a multi criteria analyses. The objectivity of this method was verified by doing several sensitivity checks. Finally it leads to a final optimum port layout. Two chapters are written about the breakwater and quay wall. After an analysis, where several breakwater types were discussed and a comparison between a caisson type and rubble mound breakwater was made, the rubble mound breakwater appeared to be the preferred solution. The breakwater armour layer is designed using a single layer of Accropode ll elements. A concrete unit is selected because the required weight of the armour units is substantially larger than the available 2 ton rock in the quarry nearby. For the quay wall, an open pile construction has been selected.