The seven concrete boxes needed to expand the Los Mármoles dock are now finished and have already been anchored. The last of them was launched this Saturday. This was reported by the Port Authority this Tuesday. The president of this entity, Luis Ibarra, has visited the works, congratulating himself on the "exquisite fulfillment of the project's deadlines, which will be completed in November 2017." In this sense, Ibarra recalled that this part of the expansion was planned to take place between the months of June and August to "not interfere with the cruise season."
The boxes manufactured by the caisson vessel "Kugira", a total of 7, have been made "continuously, working twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week", "which has guaranteed the manufacture of all in a period of two months", Puertos emphasizes. Ibarra has expressed his satisfaction with this result.
The work, with a total investment of 25,507,242 euros and an execution period of 30 months, is halfway through with the installation of the last of the boxes that make up the extension. Once the structure is settled, it will be filled, the surface will be adapted and the protection abutment will be built, explained from the Arrecife City Council. "Once the expansion work is finished, we will proceed to the construction of the breakwater to facilitate operations with south weather", Ibarra said for his part.
34,567 cubic meters of concrete and 3.3 million kilos of steel
The biggest concern in this type of construction is the availability of a berthing line for the installation of the caisson vessel, as well as having a pre-anchoring area for the caissons, once manufactured, in case the optimal conditions for their final anchoring are not met, the Port Authority points out. In this sense, the president of the Port of Las Palmas wanted to "congratulate the staff involved, since we have been able to verify that it has been feasible to carry out all these tasks without affecting the port operations; since the minimum required conditions have been met and it has been viable to anchor all the boxes once they have been launched, without the need for pre-anchoring or occupying more berthing line than initially planned".
In total, six boxes of 66.54 meters in length and 17.50 meters in width and one of 29.15 meters in length and 17.50 meters in width have been manufactured. All of them have 23.50 meters of height. For its construction, according to Puertos, it has been necessary to use 34,567 cubic meters of concrete and 3,354,280 kilograms of steel.
"The sea conditions to be able to proceed with the anchoring of the boxes were established at a wave height of less than one meter and a period not exceeding nine seconds, all conditions that have been met during all the anchoring maneuvers", the Port Authority has stated. Each of the anchored boxes bears the name of a municipality on the island. The last of them, named Yaiza, finished manufacturing last Friday, was launched on Saturday and anchored this Monday. Once the caisson vessel's work in Lanzarote is finished, the Kugira will leave the port next Tuesday, August 23, for the Cádiz shipyards for its tuning and revision.
"Despite the delays, the deadlines are finally met"
Along with the president of the Port Authority of Las Palmas, the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, and the mayor of Arrecife, Eva de Anta, have also visited the work. The mayor has expressed her satisfaction with the pace of the works, highlighting that the possibility of giving berth to a greater number of cruises "is a breath of fresh air for Arrecife, which for various reasons has remained excluded from the tourist business of the island". "The economic revitalization associated with the arrival of cruise passengers is undeniable and evident for some years. All investment in this field has a direct or indirect impact on the well-being of our citizens", added the mayor.
For his part, the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, also as a member and voice of the Board of Directors of the Port Authority of Las Palmas, has congratulated together with the mayor of Arrecife that "despite the delays in the start of the works, the execution deadlines and the schedule of the expansion works of the breakwater in the Port of Los Mármoles are finally being met". "This is what President Luis Ibarra committed to in the different Boards of Directors where he was questioned by this president", he added.
The vice president of the Cabildo and councilor of Works and Projects and Transport, José Juan Cruz, the councilor of Urbanism Samuel Martín and the councilor representing the Arrecife City Council in the Port Authority of Las Palmas, Tomás Fajardo, also attended the visit.
