Service port for Beira harbour, Mozambique

Abstract

This study for a service port in Beira Harbour can be divided into three different parts. These parts will be discussed below in the sequence in which they have been carried out. The first part consists of the preparations for the journey to Beira and the actual site investigation. In Beira a site investigation had been carried out to obtain all the necessary data and infonnation to make it possible to design the service port. In the Netherlands a study for this purpose started at the head-office of DHV Consultants. For this purpose use has been madeof the existing studies for Beira Harbour. This study was not sufficient and the information that was lacking had to be obtained during the visit to Beira. In Beira there were a lot of meetings with the different authorities to get the data and an impression of the problems in Beira Harbour. A selection of the most suitable location for the new service port was also carried out in Beira. The conclusion of this selection is that Praia Novais the best location for this purpose. There were no maps of this terrain at the time and a survey had to be done to make it possible to makethe maps. After returning to the Netherlands with all the obtained data and information acquired in Beira to design the service port, it was necessary to collect all the information clearly in a separate report. This is Volume 1, Site Investigation. The different alternatives could then be identified and compared with each ot her to estimate which one is the best. The first conclusion was that alternative 2 was the best one. This alternative provides a service port in the northern part of the terrain in combination with the use of the existing fishery port. The disadvantage of this alternative is the rate of siltation. This siltation rate is not acceptable because the maintenance casts would be enormous. For this reason al ternative 2 has been improved in the final design. This has been done by situating the moorings along the river bank. These subjects are discussed in this MainReport. The third part of the study is the construction of a floating breakwater. This floating breakwater is the mooring for the small passenger vessels. It has to provide a sheltered mooring. The breakwater is a construction madeout of concrete which would slide up and downwith the tide along piles driven into the river bottom. The piles would keep the in its correct position and absorb the pressures. The results of the design for this floating breakwater are listed in Volume2. Generally one can say that there is a real demand for a newservice port in Beira in order to solve the problems in the existing fishery port. The difficulty is to design a port with as little siltation as possible and sufficient sheltering.