Project Jade Weser Port: a feasibility study

Together with the amount of transported containers, the size of the container vessels increases. With the size of the ships their draught also becomes larger. At the moment Germany does not have a harbour, suitable to receive these large container vessels. The idea has risen to design and construct a new deep-water port. The authorities took some time contemplating where this port has to be built. Wilhelmshaven versus Cuxhaven was the dilemma. Finally, in March 2001, a temporary decision was made: a new deepwater port is to be built near Wilhelmshaven. One of the strongest points of the area near Wilhemshaven is the great possibilities for future expansion. The scope of this report is limited to the design of a deepwater port near the Wilhelmshaven: the Jade Weser Port. The Jade estuary is very suitable as a harbour, having a natural deep-sea channel and being situated close to open sea. Besides that, a large area is available for the terminal and the infrastructure on land has good possibilities for expansion. For a project, as great as the Jade Weser Port, several studies have to be done. The economic situation is one of the first studies that should be done. The Jade Weser Port studies into this subject are not widely available. This leads to the first question: Is the Jade Weser Port economically/financial feasible? Ballast Nedam has also done research into the future Jade Weser Port. Because of this research the design of the quay in the feasibility study gave reason to Ballast Nedam Dredging for some questions. The quay wall is not protected from waves and currents and there are no breakwaters to protect the berths. The quay lies parallel to the approach channel, just a couple of hundred meters away from it. This situation has led to the following question: Does the unprotected quay lead to any nautical or operational difficulties? If so, is there not a better option for the layout of the quay? The objective of this thesis study is to answer the questions that are outlined in the problem description above. This is done in the following studies: Financial/economical study Nautical/hydraulic study This report is a feasibility study for the Jade Weser Port. This feasibility study consists of five parts. First a study on the location and environmental aspects of the Jade Weser Port has been done, secondly a financial study has been done and after that the preliminary design aspects of the port are described. At last the currents, waves and navigation in and around the port are analysed. The feasibility study is concluded with the conclusions and recommendations for the new port. The results for the port can be presented by the following remarks: The financial feasibility study of the port does not show very encouraging results, although a definitive negative advice can not be given. The nautical feasibility study of the port does show promising results. The circumstances can be rough, but this will not result in much downtime.