Part 1 Europe
Europe’s $650 Million Bridge That Only China Could Build
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| Croatia completes Pelješac Bridge project One of the biggest moments in Croatian history, the long-awaited Pelješac Bridge opened on 26 July. With a length of 2,440m including approach spans, the extradosed cable-stayed bridge has six towers with single central cable planes and five main spans of 285m. A total of 10 supports are located in the water with two piers on land. Once the associated road links are complete, vehicles will be able to drive between the Croatian mainland and Dubrovnik, which has been an isolated territory since the country declared its independence from Yugoslavia in June 1991. Construction started in August 2018 and was undertaken by contractor China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) for client Hrvatske Ceste. A total of 150 pieces of straight welded tubular steel piles were fabricated for the foundations, with design lengths ranging from 36m to 130.6m and a diameter of 2m. The proportion of piles with a design length of more than 100m exceeds 70%. The pile body comprises S355NH and the wall thickness is 40 mm, while the pile shoes are 2m-long and made from S460NH with a thickness of 60mm. For the main span, the segments were 12m-long and installed using the balanced cantilever method. Ten pairs of girders were installed for each of the six pylons using flat barges to transport them beneath derrick cranes which hoisted them into position. To speed up the installation of bridge’s the six side spans – which have a combined length of 657.6m – and decrease the amount of on-site welding, extra-long segments ranging from 36m to 56m were fabricated and lifted into place with a 1,000t-capacity floating crane. Curved and straight sections for the on land portion of the bridge were 12m long and lifted with a floating crane onto temporary onshore platforms before being moved along skid tracks using hydraulic jacks. To complete the superstructure, seven closure segments were also fabricated and installed using derrick cranes. Closure segments between the main spans were 18.6m long while those for the space between the side and main spans were 29.7m long. Given the distance between the steel fabrication yards in China and the bridge site in Croatia, long-distance cargo shipping and equipment dispatch were essential. The tubular steel piles and box girders were transported from China to site in six and seven batches, respectively. Meanwhile, the contractor utilised a semi-submersible barge to dispatch numerous construction barges from China to the sites, including the extra-large pile-driving barge, anchor boats, flat storage barges, hopper barges, and floating cranes. During the full construction phase, there were up to 19 different barges on site at the same time. Due to the impact of the epidemic, CRBC mainly relied on the shipment resource of its parent company China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) to deal with ship shortages in the global shipping market. |
Part 2 Southamerica
Why the U.S. is PANICKING Over China’s New Mega Port in Peru
| 11.04.2025 Find out why the U.S. is freaking out over China’s massive new port in Chancay, Peru and what it means for global trade! |
| How China’s new Peru megaport gives it a foothold in South America The multi-billion dollar project in Chancay will receive the world’s largest ships — but questions remain over its benefits for the region |
