An Italian consortium – led by Webuild – has won the contract to build a new breakwater for the Port of Genoa.

The consortium also includes partners Fincantieri Infrastructure Opere Marittime, Fincosit and Sidra in a project valued in the client budget at a combined €928 million. Webuild has a 40% stake in the consortium.

The breakwater (known in Italian as “Nuova Diga Foranea”) will be a unique project worldwide due to its scale and engineering complexity.

It will be built offshore, leaving port activities uninterrupted. Also, it will rest on an underwater foundation, whose varying depth will be up to 50 metres, making it the deepest in the world.

According to Webuild, the breakwater is set to cover a combined 6.2 kilometres, more than 4 of which under Phase A of the project.

The project will be the biggest renewal of the port’s infrastructure on the Ligurian coast in 25 years. Also, the breakwater will widen the transit and manoeuvre areas for ships within the port area.

By increasing its capacity to receive ships, one of the goals of the project is to provide the port with the infrastructure requested by major shipping companies and help improve the competitiveness of the Ligurian and Italian port system.

In fact, it will guarantee direct access to the port’s terminal facilities, as well as provide a wide turning basin for container ships.

At up to 400-450 metres in length, these ships are double the size of those that the port can currently receive.

The project’s impact on the port, the city and the country will be felt from the outset with the creation of more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs, concluded Webuild.