Bay Port is adjacent to Port of Haifa (Figure 1) built in the thirteen of the past century along the southern part of Haifa Bay. Carmel Port was built between 2005 and 2007. Start order of Bay Port, now under construction, was on January 2015 and will be operational on December 2020 .Bay Port was designed for EEE vessels(400x59x16m,18,000 TEU) with an entrance channel of-20,5 m water depth below Israel Land Survey Datum( ILSD). The project is executed concurrently with HaDarom Port project at Ashdod(Israel). Both projects are commissioned for Israel Ports Company Ltd(IPC) and designed by HPA Engineers P.C.(USA). Bay Port under construction by the Contractor Ashtrom Shapir-Construction of a new Port, Ltd (Israel), includes the following main structures(Figure 2):
•880 m extension of the main rubble mound breakwater,.• 2150 m of lee breakwater(1550 m of rubble mound type and 600m r.c. rectangular cellular concrete caissons).• 805 m main Quay 6 for EEE vessels,• 447m Quay7 for Post Panamax vessels,• 715 m Quay 8 of which ca 400 m for Panamax vessels. •15,5 million m³ dredging(10,5 million m³ sand for the reclaimed area of ca. 710,000 sqm and 5,0 million m³ of unsuitable material, clay/silt layers and fines content.
For breakwaters, a total of 43,300 armor units of concrete Antifer cubes of 4,7 and 12 m³ each and 5,3 million tons rock of different sizes(0-1 ton,1-3 ton,3-6 tons)are required.
A staging harbor in the near Kishon port was allocated for contractor`s work. Total project cost is approximately 1,2 billion USD. During the design phase of the structures, extensive marine and land surveys as well as model tests were carried out including exploratory boreholes for soil and foundation investigations to depths up to 80 m below sea bottom, soil laboratory tests; 2D and 3D hydraulic physical models of breakwaters and revetments stability; harbor wave agitation and ship motion ; numerical wave pattern at different scenarios ; fast and real time maneuvering simulations for nautical design.
Three main issues required special attention for the proper and economic design of the project . An Environmental Impact Assessment of engineering and biological issues , approved by the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), was prepared by foreign and Israeli institutes and laboratories mainly focusing, inter alia, on the following aspects:
marine sand resources: along the coast of Israel ,offshore sand deposits generally contain high fines content which are unsuitable for engineering purposes as hydraulic fill for reclamation. The used fill material partly originates from a sand borrow area adjacent to the Works, dredged to sea bottom levels between-15 to – 25 m (1 to 3 m depth below it). The remaining sand quantity for reclamation shall be dredged within an area delimitated by the entrance channel, turning circle and along the areas of Quays 6,7,and 8. Unsuitable dredged material from all dredging areas shall be dumped offshore at disposal areas at Haifa Bay. An Environmental Management Plan for Dredging (EMP) of the suspended material including continuos Monitoring Plan was coordinated with approved by the MEP. With the aim to minimize expected short and long-term settlements of structures in the reclamation area and liquefaction of the sand fill, ground improvement techniques like Vibrocompaction and /or Vibrostone columns were considered.The reclamation area was divided in three sub –areas : Type ‘1’ to be compacted with Vibrostone columns at ARR(Area Replacement Ratio) of 23%, Type “2” to be compacted with Vibrocompaction(at 70% relative density) and/or Vibrostone columns at ARR of 12% and area Type ‘3’ to be compacted with Vibrostone columns at ARR of 25%.
short and long-termimpact of the new Bay port`s structures on the surrounding sea bottom and the adjacent beaches of Haifa Bay. The coastline evolution, based on mathematical models like Spectral Waves, Hydrodinamic, Sediment Transport and Coast Line, has been assessed during the 30-year period after the Haifa Bay Port construction and results presented every 5 years An artificial sand nourishment along the Haifa Bay beaches already started to compensate the impact of the new port`s structures during and after its construction .
seismic impact because the northwestern coast of Israel lies in a seismically active eastern Mediterranean region. Design response spectra were developed based on seismo-tectonic studies and ground shaking analyses and time histories developed for two design levels of return probability, the Operating level earthquake(return period of 1 in 72 years,50% probability of exceedance in 50 years) and a Contingency level earthquake(return period of1 in 475 years,10% probability of exceedance in 50 years).For the OLE event, a PGA near the top of the upper rock stratum of 0,11g and for the CLE event a PGA of 0,38 g were used.