The Heavy Mob Move In

When DPC editor Tony Slinn last reported on Great Yarmouth’s new Outer Harbour in July, joint-venture partners and main contractors Van Oord and Nuttall John Martin were about 50% through the project – things have changed dramatically since then

The port is scheduled for completion in April 2009 and with winter fast approaching, the emphasis now is on speedy, efficient creation of the ro-ro and container handling facilities that will be essential in maintaining Great Yarmouth’s future commercial development.

Great Yarmouth Port Company is behind the new harbour, which is designed to accommodate vessels over 200m long and with draughts up to 10m – in contrast to the long-established river port that can only cope with ships up to 125m with 6m draught.

Van Oord’s CSD Sliedrecht 35 carried out the internal pocket dredging, extracting over 1.65M m3 from the harbour to create a depth of 11m – with the sediment used to reclaim land on which to build the 17.6ha of handling facilities and 450m of quay. She was followed by backhoe Razende Bol that, apart from general dredging work, was fitted with a rock grab and placed rock on the northern breakwater.

But while some offshore work continues at the exposed, east coast location, it’s the heavy construction plant – mostly dump trucks and excavators from specialised supplier Abeko (UK) – that’s now tasked with coping with unpredictable weather, biting easterly winds and challenging logistical considerations.

On The Spot

Abeko’s permanent site supervisor Gareth Sharpe has the task of ensuring all runs smoothly. The nightmare, of course, is major breakdowns that have repercussions along the line...

“Great Yarmouth’s tough on machines,” says Gareth. “We’re working in fine, highly abrasive sand and sea water, handling large granite boulders – often during the night. And the corrosive nature of the wet, salt-laden atmosphere can also play havoc with electrics.” Hardly surprising, then, that Abeko has workshops on site. “Because of the conditions, we do make some minor modifications to ensure the machines can better cope,” Gareth added. “We have sealed brakes on the dump trucks, the alternators are uprated and electrical components sealed. We also put additional counterweights on to the excavators to make handling of the large rocks more efficient and safer. “To better cope with the abrasive material, we also specify Hardox body liners for the dump trucks. The latest Caterpillar (Cat) equipment is also specified with the manufacturer’s anti-corrosion package.”

Because of t ...