Nothing has been more exhaustively researched at Marinetek over the past 20 years than its series of breakwaters.

NOW IN THIRD generation production, the units have been installed around the world often in the harshest environments. No single unit has ever failed and in some marine cases the Marinetek unit has been the only pontoon to withstand the test. In Praia da Vitoria in the Azores, for example, after tropical storm Tanya had raged for two days with waves up to 10 m high, the Marinetek breakwater was the only pontoon still in place.This kind of exceptional strength, coupled with excellent wave attenuation, is a design achievement resulting from technical research undertaken worldwide. Tank testing, theoretical calculations and fi eld tests have been the norm. Results are impressive - the third generation breakwater, in production for the past 12 years, has 30% better wave attenuation than competitive products. Justifi ably proud of the effectiveness of its system, Marinetek is the only breakwater manufacturer in the world to publish wave attenuation diagrams for its different breakwater models: 4300BRK; 3800BR; 3300 BR; and 2700BR. Breakwaters reduce the wave height and strength by directly defl ecting some of the energy and dissipating smaller amounts by friction and turbulence. Signifi cant amounts of energy are dissipated by the movement of the fl oating breakwater due to its size and fl exible anchoring. The main technical parameters i.e. width, height, weight and moment of inertia, are selected for maximum attenuation capacity. The connection between the pontoon units is semi-fl exible with suffi cient rigidity to enable the breakwater to work as a continuous structure. The units have boat mooring tubes to accommodate easy anchoring for chain or Seafl ex.

New Port, Espoo, Finland ( lower left )Velirat, Croatia ( middle )Soukka, Espoo, Finland ( right ) Holy Lock, Scotland (