Riverbank Erosion Protection, Belawan, Indonesia

The Indonesian central government wanted to carry out reclamation and land expansion to the existing container terminal outside Belawan Port situated on the north eastern coast of the Sumatra island. Belawan is Indonesia’s busiest seaport, thus it was important to increase the capacity of the terminal to meet growing demands.

The designated area identify for the reclamation and expansion has been significantly washed away by the impact of water. This causes scouring at the bottom of the wharf when the shipping vessel docked.

After analysis, a proposed design was offered with appropriate size and filling material (cement mortar) which can effectively resist the erosion flow. The flexible formwork of the ACEFormer™ also allows the filling of the erosion holes. Additionally, specially designed undulating surface to reduce the impact energy of the flow velocity using high-strength PP or PET woven fabric can adapt to different surface with excellent permeability characteristics to discharge the excessive mixing of water. Moreover, construction process is easy and the installation of ACEFormer™ is quick.

Cognizant of the environment, the flexible geotextile mattress did not only cover the surface of the slopes to reduces the impact of destroying the original slope but also protects the riverside ecological environment. Notwithstanding, the ACEFormer™ has excellent permeability characteristics which when filled with cement mortar acts as a rigid protective with the filter points to eliminating the water pressure the rear slope.
Therefore, with the combination of green engineering and green index approach, the protection of the riverbank was successful completed with less environmental impact to the river ecology.