Civil Engineering December 2021 | Vol 29 No 11

Civil Engineering December 2021 43 A ECOM was appointed in June 2016 as the project management consultant for the development of a new harbour and container terminal at the Port of Tema. Located approximately 30 km from the capital city of Accra and along the Gulf of Guinea, Tema is home to approximately 70% of Ghana’s major container and port handling traffic. The container terminal has been operated by Meridian Port Services (MPS) since 2007. In June 2015, an agreement between the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) and MPS was signed for the development of a new harbour and container terminal, as an expansion of the Port of Tema. The new port project is located adjacent to the old port and has been designed to provide enough draft and modern container handling equipment to accept and service the largest container vessels operating on global trade routes. The new port can accommodate vessels with a capacity of 22 000 TEU, increasing from 5 000 at the old port. The new ter- minal will significantly increase Ghana’s container handling capacity to around 3.7 million TEU per year from 800 000. PROJECT OVERVIEW The main construction works entailed: 1. 3.55 km long rubble mound breakwater with over 35 000 Accropodes™ placed 2. 1 400 km quay wall 3. Capital dredging for the inner basin, turning circle and approach channel (6 million m 3 ) 4. 127 ha of reclamation and ground improvement (10 million m 3 ) with 90 ha of heavy-duty pavement and underground services (42 million paving blocks) 5. eRTG infrastructure 6. 12 MW back-up power station 7. Substations and other electrical works 8. Port and terminal gates 9. Four major buildings and numerous smaller buildings 10. Upgrade of the access to the port through the construction of a new roundabout and approaches. This project was delivered in three stages and finalised in August 2021 after the completion of the Berth 4 full infrastruc- ture works. TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS As Ghana is a seismically active zone, special attention was required for the design of the marine and land infra- structure. This design needed to address liquification of marine sediments and reclamation materials, and the structural stability of the breakwater, quay wall and buildings. Solutions included the removal of liquefaction-prone materials, consolida- tion of marginal foundation materials and detailed analysis and structural design of major elements. To support the construction schedule, certain aspects were altered. The quay wall was originally conceived as a conventional gravity blockwork wall but, following detailed planning, it was found that the required number of blocks would delay the schedule. A decision was taken to design and construct the quay wall using 2 700 t caissons which significantly saved time and kept marine works on schedule. For several months, Ghana experi- ences unsuitable sea conditions for ma- rine construction. In order to safely place the caissons, and carry out the hard rock dredging, the advance of the breakwater was carefully planned and constructed. The advancing breakwater provided enough sheltered water for year-round marine operations. ECONOMIC BENEFITS This 127 ha development will provide substantial economic benefits and growth for Ghana. This will be achieved through facilitating, easing and growing trade, increasing revenues to the state through taxes, levies and fees, creating jobs (construction/operations), and positioning Ghana as a major shipping/transhipment hub in West Africa. The new port and terminal have been constructed by MPS to support its vision ‘to be the best-in-class container terminal in Africa’.  SANRAL SA I CE 2021 Nat i onal Awards Category: I nternat i onal FINALIST International category (Sponsored by SKI Civil and Structural Engineers) KEY PLAYERS Client: Meridian Port Services Consultant: AECOM Contractors: CHEC, Effiage & Consar Tema Port Expansion Project The 3.55 km rubble mound breakwater contains over 35 000 Accropodes™ The new port can accommodate vessels with a capacity of 22 000 TEU