In October 2020, ShibataFenderTeam delivered four donut fenders for a site loading berth at the Dardanelles.
This loading berth was specially built to serve for the construction of the new Çanakkale 1915 suspension bridge, which will span the Dardanelles strait, about 10 km (6.2 miles) south of the Sea of Marmara in the Western Bosporus. It is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe and will connect the Asian Aegean regions of Izmir and Manisa with the European continent. As it allows people to travel from the South of Turkey to the European part of Istanbul significantly faster, this is a very important development for Turkey.
The new loading berth is used for prefabricating large bridge parts to transport them to the construction site. Therefore, the berth is mainly used by work boats and barges which supply materials to the construction site. In order to guarantee safe operation at the new berth, which faces strong currents, four donut fenders were ordered by the Turkish and Korean Joint Venture DLSY, responsible for the construction.
The donut fenders have an outer diameter of 2,970 mm and a flat length of 2,050 mm (Pile diameter: 1,400 mm). Each of them is equipped with a counterweight (5.3 t) to keep floating with the desired freeboard. As fast delivery time was very important for this order, our production team in Germany put in all efforts to manufacture the donut fenders in a very short time frame.
The Çanakkale 1915 Bridge, which is also known as the Dardanelles Bridge, is situated just south of the towns of Lapseki and Gelibolu in Çanakkale province.
The bridge is the centerpiece of the 321 km (199 miles)-long US $2.8 billion Kınalı-Balıkesir Motorway, which will connect the O-3 and O-7 motorways in East Thrace to the O-5 motorway in Anatolia. With a main span of 2,023 m (6,637 feet), the bridge will surpass the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge in Japan by 32 m (105 feet) to become the longest suspension bridge in the world.
The total length of the bridge is planned at 3,563 m (11,690 feet) and together the approach viaducts the length reaches 4,608 m (15,118 feet), which will surpass the total length of the Osman Gazi Bridge and its approach viaducts by 527 m (1,729 feet) to become the longest bridge of any type in Turkey.
The total height of the bridge’s two towers will be 318 m (1,043 feet) tall, making it the second tallest bridge in Turkey, after the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, and the third tallest structure in the country. Internationally, the bridge will become the fourth tallest bridge in the world, surpassing the Sutong Bridge in China. The deck of the bridge will be at 72.8 m (239 feet) high and have a total width of 45.06 m (147.8 feet) and a maximum thickness of 3.5 m (11 feet). The deck will carry six lanes (three in each direction) of motorway, together with two walkways on each side for maintenance.
Construction of the longest suspension bridge in the world is planned to be completed in 2022. ShibataFenderTeam wishes all involved construction companies a successful completion of this great project.
