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Since its inception in 1941, Dragados has been a construction company with a clear maritime vocation, specialised in the design and construction of marine work and with the experience, technology, and specialised equipment necessary for the development of major port infrastructure projects worldwide.

Over the years, and with the support of its Technical Department, Dragados has excelled in the quality of its work on marine and port projects and for its willingness to guarantee contract completion dates on technically complex projects and those with special construction methodology requirements.

During the years of large investments on port projects in Spain in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, Dragados worked actively on new port construction and expansion of existing port facilities, finished the construction of a large number of breakwaters and docks, and improved port facilities so that they could better respond to an ever increasing marine traffic, especially that of container ships. Much of the noted work had an important and positive geographical and climatological conditioning effect, and some of those projects have become icons in the marine construction field worldwide.

World map showing the countries where high port projects have been carried out

Dragados has worked on and completed 545 projects within the marine construction field, which can be classified by type, as follows:

  • 57 Expansion and new port projects
  • 173 docks and mooring berths, including the manufacture of approximately 3,000 hollow core cellular box reinforced concrete caissons
  • 17 Vertical breakwaters (new construction)
  • Over 62 miles of rubble mound breakwaters
  • 31 Large land reclamation and port esplanade construction and paving projects
  • Over 7 billion ft³ of dredging
  • 93 coastal projects: waterfront areas and beaches
  • 41 outfalls and underground piping
  • Facility construction for 6 shipyards, including slipways, graving docks, and dry docks
  • 19 Bridges whose foundations, partially or completely located in sea waters, required the application of project-specific construction techniques and methodology
Examine the projects executed
Relevant Facts
Expansion and new port projects: 57
Docks and mooring berths, including the manufacture of approximately 3,000 hollow core cellular box reinforced concrete caissons: 173
Vertical breakwaters (new construction): 17
Sloped and rubble mound breakwaters: 70
Large land reclamation and port esplanade construction and paving projects: 31
Projects of dredging for maintenance or greater depth creation: 38
Coastal projects: waterfront areas and beaches: 93
Submarine pipelines and distribution systems: 41
Facility construction for 6 shipyards, including slipways, graving docks, and dry docks: 6
Bridges whose foundations, partially or completely located in sea waters, required the application of project-specific construction techniques and methodology: 19
TOTAL 545

Most important projects by specialty

Zenithal view of the dyke
Punta Lucero Breakwater - Bilbao, Spain
This project featured a 1.5 mile long breakwater with usable water depths in excess of 110 feet and was the first project completed at the Bilbao Exterior Port (Abra). The slope breakwater, the first of its kind in the Bay of Biscay, is protected
Zenithal view of the floating dock, at the time of the image sawing of the fixed dock
Floating Dock at La Condamine Port Monaco - Monaco, Monaco
This floating dock was constructed as a 1,200 ft long, 90 feet wide, and 80 feet high reinforced concrete caisson and designed to allow for the mooring of cruise ships of overall lengths in excess of 660 feet, making it the longest floating dock
Zenithal view of the enlargement of the port, you can see the machines used to develop the enlargement
Port of Hayovel Expansion - Ashdod, Israel
This project included the construction of a 3,800 ft long slope breakwater with a 30 yd³ Antifer concrete block protection as an extension of the existing breakwater, land reclamation to construct a 125 acre esplanade, and 4 million yd3 of
Top view of the harbour enlargement
Port of Gijón Expansion Gijón - Gijón, Spain
The project included the construction of a new breakwater, a new dock, and a reclaimed esplanade. The three-section breakwater includes the 1,433m long Dique Torres - a slope breakwater with concrete block protection (weights up to 145 ton), the 1,66