OCEAN Kinetics has expressed its pride in helping to deliver a key element of Aberdeen Harbour’s £350 million south harbour expansion project (AHEP).
The Shetland and Aberdeen-based marine engineering, fabrication and diving specialist has successfully positioned the 12th and 13th concrete structure – or caissons – that will form part of the new harbour. The structures were towed from floating storage at Invergordon in the Cromarty Firth to Nigg Bay in Aberdeen
When in position, the caissons are ballasted with seawater, before being filled with rock and topped with concrete to form the new quay.
John Henderson, MD of Ocean Kinetics said, “Our job is to prepare the remaining caissons for towage, give assistance during the tow then place the caissons and ballast them down onto the seabed in the correct position. The first two have now been delivered and are in place – each caisson is approximately 51 metres long, 12 metres wide, 16 metres deep and weigh 5500 tonnes – these two caissons are the final units for the north-facing 540 metre-long Castlegate Quay.
“The first two caissons have been successfully towed from Invergordon to the new harbour, winched into place, and ballasted down onto the seabed to the required accuracy. We will now move on to the caissons for East Dunnottar Quays. This is challenging, highly skilled work which demands great experience and expertise, which is being reliably delivered, thanks to our team led by marine projects director in Aberdeen, Michael Fox, who has been working with Aberdeen Harbour for many years.
