Expansion of Giurgiulesti Port in the Republic of Moldova Bauer Spezialtiefbau carries out Specialist Foundation Works

Giurgiulesti / Moldova – During 2010, BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH of Schrobenhausen, Germany, carried out major foundation construction works for the expansion at the Giurgiulesti International Free Port in the young Republic of Moldova. For this work Bauer engineers were able to utilize the Group’s East European network and engage the Bauer subsidiaries in Hungary and Romania.

Advertisement

Sandwiched between Romania and the Ukraine, Giurgiulesti lies around 100 kilometers north west of the Black Sea and 200 kilometers south of the capital Chisinau in the centre of the Republic of Moldova. The economic importance of the 3000 inhabitant strong settlement at the most southerly point of the country is the Republic’s only and just several hundred meter long access to the River Danube. The construction of Giurgiulesti International Free Port began in the mid 1990s. To date, the port operates both a grain and an oil terminal as well as a passenger terminal. Further rapid expansion of the port has been ongoing during 2010 and will continue throughout 2011.

BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH, Bauer Romania and the Hungarian Bauer subsidiary BRK Specialis were awarded the foundation works contract for the future container terminal by Danube Logistics, the general investor and operator of Giurgiulesti International Free Port.

The contract included the installation of 4,200 m² of sheet piling, for which a Bauer BG 25 rotary drilling rig provided the necessary pre-bores, and the installation of 3,400 linear meters of tie-back anchors. In addition, the contract also contained ground improvement works in the form of 25,000 linear meters of vibro-displacement columns, some in the form of vibrated concrete columns, as well as foundation piles and a secant pile retaining wall.

One of the most complex tasks during the pre-contract stage of such construction sites continues to be logistics. The biggest challenge on this occasion was the severe flooding of the River Danube, which at times made it impossible to deliver plant and equipment to the site. A Bauer RG 25 piling rig and crane arrived on site by waterway transport with a four-week delay. Work commenced at the beginning of June 2010 and the contract was completed in December 2010.