Port expansion design for Port Louis, Mauritius

The Challenge

The current container terminal in Port Louis is experiencing persistent downtime due to cyclone induced swells and soon it does no longer provide enough container handling capacity to sustain Mauritius’ leading position in the container transhipment market. In 2016, consultants of Royal HaskoningDHV (RHDHV) developed the port master plan for Port Louis, including a new port extension scheme offshore the existing terminal. The scheme includes a breakwater structure to provide shelter to the container terminal, as well as a newly reclaimed area in the leeside of the breakwater, accommodating additional container terminal capacity. RHDHV was retained by Mauritius Ports Authority again in 2017 to conduct the Mauritius Island Terminal technical and financial feasibility study for the proposed scheme. As part of this project RHDHV carried out multiple hydraulic modelling and lab experiments.

The Solution

The numerical modelling studies consisted of wave, flow, cyclone, and sediment transport models. Based on these studies the design conditions for the revetment and breakwater have been determined. Additionally, the wave penetration into the harbour basin has been modelled as input for a simple Dynamic Mooring Analysis.

The lab experiments were executed at a research institution under instructions by RHDHV. The different scenarios were defined by RHDHV, as well as the interpretation of the results.

The Results

The hydraulic studies were used in the technical design to provide the design conditions for the revetment and breakwater. Also, the expected downtime after the development has been determined and is used in the financial and economic evaluation. Finally, the morphological studies provided input in the ecological assessment.