Taiwan International Ports Corporation, Ltd.

The large volume of construction rubble resulting from post-2017 ‘0206 Earthquake’ reconstruction work on Wharf Nos. 23~25 at the Port of Hualien, TIPC could not all be handled by the legal dump sites in the area. In response, port administrators placed an allotment of the higher-quality reinforced-concrete rubble in temporary storage with plans to use this as foundation material for seawall construction. Apart from reducing the amount of new material needed for seawall construction, the effort would add new administrative and recycling value to port operations.

To make the best use of the ‘0206 Earthquake’ rubble, it was designated for use in the foundations of new construction on the port’s east seawall and in emergency reinforcement work throughout the harbor area. The Port of Hualien is casting this lot of foundation blocks for the east seawall this year using the recycled rubble and high-strength (280 kg/cm2) concrete. The initial lot of 160 3mx3mx2m blocks will be used to reinforce the foundations of the east seawall and for as-needed emergency reinforcement work around the port. The enclosed photos show the initial test version of these blocks.

The block-making project will be conducted between 2019 and 2020, with the recycled rubble used to replace standard aggregate (stones). The project will ultimately create 350 seawall-reinforcement blocks. The rubble-retention and reuse project saved the port an estimated NT$2.17 million in disposal costs and will save an estimated NT$1.46 million in new material purchases (total savings for 2019 and 2020).

The Port of Hualien noted that the 2019 “Project to Cast 40 Tons of Foundation Blocks for the East Seawall, Port of Hualien” was successfully bid out on October 2nd of this year (2019), with a contract value of NT$7.278 million. Project work commenced on October 23rd and is scheduled to end within 65 calendar days on December 26th. The blocks cast under this project are scheduled to be installed, weather permitting, after March of next year (2020).

Provided by：Construction Management & Engineering Dept., Port of Hualien, TIPC
Contact Person：Ching-sheng Cheng, Manager
Telephone No.：03-8325131#2271
E-mail Address：cscheng@twport.com.tw