Dredging operations are underway across the Ports of Genoa and Savona, with the dual objective to maintain and to deepen the depth alongside quaylines .
It is essential to regularly remove the accumulations of sand and sediment – deposited by tide and river flows into the sea – from the navigation channels, to ensure safe and easy access to terminal facilities.
Genoa is in the focus of the excavation of a total of 600,000 cubic metres of sediment, equal to the size of 60 football pitches up to 1 metre in height.
In the passenger port, depth alongside the cruise terminal quay of Ponte dei Mille will be boosted to -11 metres and to -10 metres along the ferry terminal wharves.
In Sampierdarena, the draft is planned to increase to up to -14.5 metres along the multipurpose terminals sited in the basin, and taken from -16 to -17 metres in Calata Bettolo and, in conjunction with the construction of the new breakwater, up to -18.5 metres along the navigation channel.
In Savona , dredging operations will be limited to the navigation channel along Calata delle Vele in the cruise port where the depth is set to increase to -11 metres, at the same level as the draft alongside the terminal quayline, to ensure in full safety manoeuvres on the part of the next generation of cruise vessels.
The sediment deposits released during the excavation will be disposed of in the Bulk Alti Fondali Terminal area.