The expansion of Denmark’s second largest cruise port

15 December 2016

Today a limited number of large ships are able to call the Port of Rønne as the inadequate manoeuvring space requires sharp turns when entering the port. An expansion of the port has the goal of making room for bigger cruise and cargo ships. 

Thomas Bendtsen, CEO of Port of Rønne, explains:” The future of the port needs to be secured. Besides cruise ships, this entails oil supply and bulk services for the customers on Bornholm. The new port layout also enables us to operate in new markets like wind energy”. 

An expansion in two phases 

The planned expansion is divided into two phases. During the first phase the plan is to build on the exterior of the existing port enabling the ships to sail directly into the new part of the port without having to pass through the original port’s piers. The new port will have room for cruise ships, bulks and project cargo.

In the second phase the port’s outer pier will be lengthened and a new northern pier will be established. The expanded port will include a turning basin for ships of a length up to 400 m, a new cruise area and berths for bulks and tankers.

Testing a virtual port

Based on drawings by NIRAS, we created a virtual model of the new port in our simulators from where pilots and captains could test the port by sailing different vessel types: ”In this case, our examinations are centered around the wind force of the ships.

The most important thing is off course whether you are able to sail in and out, stop the ship and moor with a sufficient safety margin,” explains Niels Arndal, senior project leader at FORCE Technology.

Klaus Lind, pilot at DanPilot, who are responsible for the pilotage of the ships in the port explains why simulation is an essential tool to determine limits:” A part of my job is to stop an operation, when it is no longer safe. The simulators are good at testing critical situations with maximal risks, that would be too dangerous to test in real life. Thereby we are able to determine when a wind force is too harsh for the sailing to be safe”.

According to Thomas Bendtsen, the simulations were very successful:” Everything has gone better than I dared to hope for. Everyone is very satisfied with the new layout and the improved room for manoeuvring. We have been able to enter the port at wind speeds that are impossible today“.

Visit Port of Rønne here