The work of the new dam in Genoa has started, a billion-dollar Pnrr work

The new breakwater will be built in two phases and will cost a total of around 1.35 billion euros. Phase A, the one that has just begun, and which will have to be completed by November 2026 (as required by the Pnrr), will serve to create over 4 kilometers of barrier which, already in this way, will allow the entry of large latest generation container ships, exceeding 18 thousand teu (unit of measurement equal to a 20-foot container) of cargo; while Phase B, which has yet to be tendered out, involves the construction of another section of the bulwark which will bring the length of the dam to 6.2 kilometres.

It will be built on depths of up to 50 meters

To build the base of this work – unique of its kind from an engineering point of view – which will rest on seabeds up to a depth of 50 meters, 7 million tons of rock material will be used, on which 97 prefabricated concrete caissons will be positioned armed, 35 meters wide, 67 meters long and up to 33 meters high (like a 10-storey building).

This maritime infrastructure, the Adsp technicians explain, is also designed to protect the docks and port structures from climate change: a real embankment to the sea. And the material coming from the demolition of the old dam will almost all be reused, with a view to circular economy, reducing the environmental impacts of the construction.

The construction of the new dam, as mentioned, will allow safe access to the port even for modern ships defined as ultra large, which today are subject to limitations due to the limited space for maneuver in the historic basin built at the end of the 1930s. Once completed, the port will have an evolution basin of 800 meters and it will be possible to differentiate between freight and passenger and cruise traffic.

Traffic growth between 22 and 30%

This, underlined Signorini, will allow the port of Genoa to be competitive with the major European hubs and settle ever higher among those of the Mediterranean. The commissioner and president of the Adsp estimates that the new dam will ensure a progressive annual growth in commercial traffic “between 22% and 30% from 2027 to 2030, the year in which Phase B will also be completed”. The Adsp calculates the economic benefit at 4.2 billion, in terms of higher revenues from container traffic, port duties and taxes.