SPANISH PORT DEVELOPMENT FROM THE LAST DECADE OF THE 20th CENTURY
Gutiérrez, R.1and Grassa, J.M.1
1Centro de Estudios de Puertos y Costas. Centro de Estudios y Experimentación de Obras Públicas (CEDEX). Ministry of Fomento of Spain. St. Antonio López 81, 28026 Madrid. Spain. E-mail: Ramon.M.Gutierrez@cedex.es; Jose.M.Grassa@cedex.es
Abstract:
The purpose of the paper, summarised here, is to present an overview of the important port development which has taken place in Spain, within the Spanish State Port System (28 Port Authorities which manage 44 ports under the co-ordination of the State Ports Body), from the last decade of the 20th century. Special emphasis will be given to the design and construction of its breakwaters, including a general summary of its characteristics. A total of 34.46 km of large breakwater has been constructed in this period, most of them in depths ranging between 20 and 55 m.
The details of the Spanish State Port System development as well as other interesting ports enlargements belonging to regional governments (ten Spanish regional governments have coastline and are responsible for a great amount of minor ports: fishing and marinas) are beyond the scope of the paper, but the paper will include bibliographic references for more information.
An attempt will be made to describe a selection of the most important and innovative problems encountered. Port engineering in Spain is in general terms characterised by the need to site new port developments in exposed waters -outers ports-, not only due to the absence of areas of natural protection but also because of environmental considerations which make difficult developments in estuarine areas or river mouths, as has tended to occur historically with the world’s great ports.
This situation, that is, of port development in areas with no natural shelter is nothing new in the Spanish coast. In this sense a historical mention will be included in the paper, highlighting the enlargements of the ports of Bilbao (1985), Gijon (1976) and Las Palmas (1975 and earlier), as an introduction to the activity since the last decade of the 20th. What has been a challenge for Spanish port engineering has been the magnitude and uniqueness of some of these developments.
In respect with the port development since the last decade of the 20th century, within the Spanish State Ports System, it is worth emphasizing the importance of the enlargements of the ports of: Gijón, Bilbao, Ferrol, Coruña, Algeciras, Málaga, Almería, Motril, Cartagena, Alicante, Valencia, Sagunto, Castellón, Tarragona, Barcelona, Ibiza and Las Palmas.
Among these it can be stand out the breakwaters of the new outer ports of Gijón, Ferrol and Coruña in the Atlantic Ocean, with lengths of 3.8, 1.0 and 3.4 km respectively; maximum heights of 48, 49 and 64 m; significant design wave heights of 9.5, 7.6 and 15 m respectively, of rubble mound and caisson type; the enlargement of Algeciras port with a 2.006 km long breakwater in 30÷40 m deep; the geotechnical problems derived from the limited bearing capacity of the seabed in the Barcelona port enlargement and the environmental issues relating to the enlargement of Cartagena port in the Escombreras basin.
Relative to all of these developments, the paper will described, with a certain detail, the enlargements of: Gijón, Ferrol, Coruña, Algeciras, Cartagena and Barcelona, including the design, construction and performance of its breakwaters, and also some information of the physical model tests carried out in CEDEX for the design and construction of this enlargements