Port of Mersin

Port of Mersin
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Location
Ro-Ro and oil terminal

Port of Mersin

Port of Mersin (Turkey)

v t e Rail lines in the Port of Mersin
Legend
Adana–Mersin railway Oil depot Oil refinery Oil refinery Container depot Rail yard Train ferry berth Dry bulk depot Container terminal Berths 9, 10, 11 Container terminal Container terminal Berths 2, 3 Mersin railway station

The Port of Mersin (

During the American Civil War in the 19th century, Mersin, then a small town, had become an important seaport for the export of cotton in eastern Mediterranean Sea because of the increased demand. In the later years, with a considerable hinterland in Anatolia, Mersin flourished as a major port. However, it lacked the harbor facilities and the Gulf of Mersin was found to be insufficient for secure anchorage. So, after the proclamation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, a harbor infrastructure for Mersin was suggested, and a company was established on 29 August 1929 both for the exploitation of the port and construction of the harbor infrastructure.^[2] Nevertheless, at the eve of the World War II, the project was postponed and the company was acquired on 14 August 1942 by the government.^[3]

Construction

International auction by underbidding was held on 4 April 1954 and the groundbreaking ceremony was held on 25 April the same year. The awarded party was the Royal Nederlands Harbour Works Co. (

Location

The harbor is situated in the Akdeniz district of Mersin. The Mersin railway station is just north of the harbor. Mersin Aquapark is situated next to the western breakwater.

Structure

The port's rail connection brings heavy freight train traffic to Mersin, via the Adana–Mersin railway. The railway infrastructure within the Port of Mersin is one of the best in Turkey with Derince.^{[citation needed]} There are 4 railway ramps.^{[citation needed]} Containers can be handled without any need of shunting.^{[citation needed]} 5 of the berths has railway connection, where loading/unloading to/from vessels can be done directly.^{[5][citation needed]}

The port has

Quays

The main quays as of the 1960s were the following:

• Merchandise quay (comprising foreign, domestic and passenger piers)
• Cereal quay (with a 100,000 ton
  conveyor
  of the silo. These 12 caissons were the largest caissons used in Turkey up to the 1960s.
• Livestock and timber quay
• Fishery quay
• Bulk product (including mineral ore and coal) quay
• Petroleum quay (associated with
  ATAŞ
  refinery, which was the subject of another project)
• Maintenance quay

There is also a small marina at the west side of the harbor.

Breakwaters

There are two breakwaters:

• The 2,400 m (7,900 ft) east breakwater is a
  downwind
  breakwater. It is constructed by concrete blocks each weighted 60 metric tonnes.
• The 1,600 m (5,200 ft) southwest breakwater is the main breakwater for the dominant wind of lodos in the Mersin area. It is constructed by block stones. 1.75 million metric tonnes of stone was carried by barges from a quarry around Limonlu town some 45 km (28 mi) west of Mersin.

Dredging

Bucket dredging of the sea floor was carried out by a Danish company Christiani & Nielsen in four years. The level of the floor was lowered to an average depth level of 10 m (33 ft), between 6 and 14 m (20 and 46 ft) depending on the pier. The total area of dredging was more than 3.5 km² (1.4 sq mi) and the mass of the total dredged material was about 8.4 million metric tonnes. Most of these material was spread out in front of the city to build a seaside park. (Atatürk Park)

Warehouses

• Two 75 m × 120 m (246 ft × 394 ft) warehouses with prestressed roof for transit goods.
• One 75 m × 32 m (246 ft × 105 ft) passengers' warehouse

Mersin harbour has also an open storage space of more than 3 km² (1.2 sq mi).

Project completion and aftermath

The total cost of the project was 70 million

Turkish Chamber of Civil Engineers lists Mersin Harbor as one of the fifty civil engineering feats in Turkey, a list of remarkable engineering projects realized in the first 50 years of the chamber.^[7]

References