The construction of the Bay Port was designed to expand the capacity of Israeli ports in light of the increase in trade, and to maintain the robustness of Israeli economy which is predominantly based on seaports as the country’s main trade gateways. In addition, the Bay Port had to be adapted to quick changes in ship sizes on international trade routes.

The Port is adjacent to the Israeli Air Force’s technical school and the Haifa Airport. Construction challenges were many, because of the location as well as other factors, for example crane height and stone pile heights were limited, and airborne dust from the stone piles was subject to strict regulations. Other challenges were finding sources for the stone, transporting it, finding suitably large preparation areas, and working under harsh weather conditions.

Project components and construction method

Before work commenced, the marine environment around the port area was monitoring, and measurements and surveys of the underwater environment (ground levels and ground type) were taken, in an attempt to minimize damage to the marine environment. The project itself comprised four independent main sections:

1. Breakwaters. Constructing a secondary breakwater at a total length of 2.1km, and extending the main breakwater by 880 meters. The main breakwater was extended using an oversea work method, by dumping stones from designated barges. The secondary breakwater was constructed both from the sea and from land. It is made of 1.5 km of stone, and 600 meters of caissons (huge elements of cast concrete). While this work was conducted oversea, over land the stone was obtained, transported and stored for breakwater construction.

2. Marine excavation and filling. The first stage of the work was excavating channels for the breakwaters using designated boats, and deepening the ocean floor in the platforms’ area so that big and heavy ships can dock. In addition, certain parts of the port were dried using a special material.

3. Shoring walls. Installing 2km of shoring walls. Most of the work was done oversea using designated barges.

4. Constructing the caisson element. Constructing 20 cast concrete elements with a volume of about 2,500 cubic meters.

The project was constructed using the marine “drying” method, which means dumping huge quantities of sand excavated from the breakwater, from sea deepening areas, and from other sand excavations. The sand is “trapped” between the shoring walls and the secondary breakwater, preventing its escape and accumulating it until sandy ground appears above sea level. Once this process was completed, the sand was compacted until the land was stable enough for work to continue.