The ports of the future can float on water

Ports in Northern Europe are full. Offshore wind and other projects need a port for everything that requires transport to those construction sites. 

Such as when a landslide obliterates and closes a road or railway for a long time. A solution has to be found – and the researchers think running test scenarios in the fjord is the place to start.

“The idea of floating infrastructure isn’t entirely new. Japan has talked about floating airports, and Norway has carried out projects with long floating bridges,” says researcher Hagbart Skage Alsos.

Offshore wind requires changes to infrastructure on land

Alsos is a research manager at SINTEF and responsible for research collaboration with SFI Blues.

“We started by talking about offshore wind. Developing 30 GW of offshore wind will require a major change in the infrastructure on the port side,” he says. “Can we build floating structures? The answer is partly yes, because we’ve partly done it.”

Alsos is talking about the Hywind Tampen wind farm off the Norwegian coast. It needed a deep-water quay to transport components out into the North Sea.

“A floating quay was built there,” says Alsos.

Floating ports need to withstand multiple forces

What makes the process complicated is understanding how wind, current, and waves affect a quay that floats on the water and is made up of several parts, or modules.

Even though a structure is floating and perhaps temporary, it has to be safe and able to withstand the forces where it’s located. 

"You need to have control over how the waves, currents, and wind will impact the structure, and you have to anchor well. The modules will move slightly in relation to each other,” the researcher says.

Tests in an advanced ocean basin

Researchers at SINTEF Ocean use models and run tests in Trondheim’s ocean basin. 

It's an advanced test basin built to provide the same conditions as in the open ocean.

“We use six offshore barges that we assemble in different ways. They show us that the concept is feasible, but the important thing is to have control over what happens to the modules when they’re connected,” he says.

Analysing a single module that floats on its own is not that difficult. It only becomes complicated when you have multiple modules that are connected and need to work together while floating separately.

“You get wave splashing and hydrodynamic effects that influence each other. We can see that these effects are complex," he says.

Hydrodynamic effects refer to how the water affects the movements.

The day the E6 highway disappeared

Last autumn, a landslide in Levanger municipality severed Norway’s E6 highway and the Nordland Railway, causing long-term closure of both major travel corridors.

“In a situation like this, we could imagine establishing a floating port to transport freight and people past the landslide site. I don’t know this case very well, but we could imagine building a temporary, floating port when an area is blocked off,” he says.

This solution could be put into place not only when nature creates problems, but also in times of crisis or war.

“Do we have the ports we need? Are they robust enough? If not, could access to a floating port be part of the solution?” asks Alsos.

He believes that building a floating port that works well will be fully possible before too long. What's missing are the necessary regulations.

“The methods exist. We need to formalise them,” he says.

Preparedness is important – and good for the environment

Alsos believes that floating ports are a clear advantage for both the environment and the economy. 

Instead of blasting mountains and seizing shoreline, you could float in a module by sea. You could build capacity without having to start major construction work.

“The port might remain in place for a long time, or it could just be there temporarily. In terms of emergency preparedness, we could have a floating port that could be in place quickly when something happens – like when the E6 is swept away,” he says.

Permanent floating ports might be a solution in cities where space is limited.

“It will be a political process, but I imagine that it could be the solution to a problem,” says Alsos.

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Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no

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