ACCIONA Wins Contract to Build Shipyard in Brazil’s Açu Port Complex

The LLX-OSX companies (part of the Brazilian holding group, Grupo EBX) have awarded ACCIONA a contract for the engineering, design and construction of the breakwaters

for a shipyard (Estaleiro) in São João da Barra, in Brazil. The shipyard will be the largest of its kind in Latin America and is set to become a benchmark in naval construction in Brazil. The project is worth more than 400 million euros.
ACCIONA’s proposal includes home-grown technology for building the breakwaters using the caisson construction method. This is a pioneering initiative in Latin America and this innovation feature was a key factor in the decision to award the project to ACCIONA.
ACCIONA has used this system-based on the construction of artificial docks with large (66m x24m x 21m) concrete blocks- repeatedly and successfully in the past, in ports projects in Algeciras, Tarragona, Escombreras and El Ferrol, all of them in Spain. The project called for the Kugira floating dock to sail from Spain to the site of the works, where it will manufacture the blocks required for building the breakwaters. The project envisages the construction of more than 3.8 kilometers of breakwater -2.8km will be made artificially using concrete blocks.
The Estaleiro is part of the Açu super-port, a project backed by the EBX group of companies. Açu envisages two port terminals: “TX1″, with a 3km access bridge, and “TX2″, with 14 kilometers of docks, both aimed at providing the best possible access for large cargo vessels.
The Açu shipyards place ACCIONA in the market for large-scale port projects in Latin America with a ground-breaking construction system that reduces considerably the need for materials used in traditional breakwater construction methods, as well as reducing the marine surface affected, resulting in minimum environmental impact. Moreover, thanks to prefabrication, the caisson system reduces schedules significantly and improves execution quality.
ACCIONA is one of the foremost Spanish business corporations, leader in the development and management of infrastructure, renewable energy, water and services. Listed on the selective Ibex-35 stock exchange index, it is a benchmark for the market. The Company was set up over a century ago and is made up of more than 30,000 employees and has a presence in more than 30 countries on five continents.
Source: ACCIONA