EN IMAGES. 180 meters long, 37 wide… Discover Rouen’s new floating dock
Through Adrian Filoche
Published on
Baptized “Archimède”, the new floating dock in Rouen (Seine Maritime) marks the decor of the port with its massive footprint: 180 meters long, 37 wide and 14 high. A real juggernaut. Moored on quai Marcel-Marais, the craft arrived in the Normandy city in September 2021 after a long 37-day journey from Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. Its cost: 18 million euros.
Intended to replace the current floating dock, which is aging because it was landed in Rouen in 1928, this brand new tool will enable the Rouen ship repair center “to improve its competitiveness”, emphasizes Haropa. It should be “operational from the first half of 2023”, as confirmed by Matthieu Bertin, maintenance manager of nautical means at the port of Rouen. And to add: “Floating docks like the one on the account on the fingers of one hand in France! »
Dedicated to ship repair
Built in Turkey in 2014, the 5,200-ton colossus will make it possible to dry boats in order to carry out maintenance and upkeep operations. “It will be much more practical than the old floating dock. With a useful length of 30 meters, (nearly 10 meters more than the old one, editor’s note)we will be freer to carry out the upkeep and maintenance of the boats”, confides Dany Guiniot, the dockmaster, equivalent to captain of the floating dock.
Whether they are electricians, boilermakers, mechanics or even painters, the some 60 artisan workers at the naval repair center will thus have improved access to the hulls, as well as to all the elements that are usually submerged, such as the propellers.
In theory, the floating dock can accommodate, at its biggest capacity, a boat of 14,000 tons, 140 meters long and 25 wide, and having a draft of seven meters. Several smaller ships could also be accommodated at the same time on the repair platform.
Modeled on the harbor environment
The port’s ships, but also those who benefit from the exterior, could thus afford the luxury of 2.0 maintenance at the Rouen ship repair center. “In the event of damage to a third-party boat on the Seine, the floating quay could also be called upon”, underlines Dany Guiniot.
Nothing is left to chance, since its color has been thought out so that it blends in as well as possible with the environment, “in this case the Saint-Gervais basin and the Waddington peninsula. The presence of the wine cellar oriented the choice to the brick color, a red-orange hue, for the borders (the outer walls),” says Haropa.
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