Author(s)

C M Steenberg & J Kriauciuniene

Abstract

Klaipeda Port entrance rehabilitation project C. M. Steenberg' & J. Kriauciuniene2 1Training and Ports Division, Danish Maritime Institute, Denmark. 2Lithuanian Energy Institute, Lithuania. Abstract The Klaipeda Seaport is located on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea inside the Klaipeda Strait, which joins the sea with the Kursiu Lagoon. Recently the Klaipeda Port Entrance Rehabilitation Project has been carried into effect including dredging of the navigational channel to cater for increasing ship sizes and extensions of the existing breakwater protecting the port from waves from the Baltic Sea. The abrupt change in bathymetry and the extension of the breakwaters affect both wave propagation and current conditions in the entrance. Considering this fact together with the hydrological correlation between the Kursiu Lagoon and the Baltic Sea make the Klaipeda Seaport complex when considering wave and current conditions. To determine the wave and current conditions in the final layout of the port entrance the hydrodynamic model MIKE21 was used for numerical simulations. The environmental data were subsequently implemented in the Danish Maritime Institute real-time simulator for the purpose of evaluating the new entrance layout and provide training of the pilots under the changed environmental and structural conditions. 1 Introduction Klaipeda State Seaport is an ice-free port in the Eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The port is located in the narrow Strait that joins the Baltic Sea with the Kursiu lagoon. The present project has been carried out as a part of the Klaipeda Port Entrance Rehabilitation Project funded/sponsored by the World Bank, which aims at reducing the downtime due to inclement weather as well as improving the safety of navigation. These objectives are achieved by extending the outer breakwaters while reducing the width of the entrance to 150m. Furthermore

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