Project record

Genoa New Breakwater

Aerial view of the Genoa New Breakwater caisson line and marine construction vessels working offshore in June 2026

Webuild

The Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority is moving Genoa's main breakwater seaward through a deep-water caisson system founded as far as 50 metres below sea level. Webuild reported the 24th caisson installed on 14 June 2026, five days after the works passed the first kilometre. Those are material production milestones, but the usable port-access outcome still depends on foundation completion, caisson and superstructure continuity, dredging, interfaces with the existing breakwater, and accepted navigation geometry.

Project signal

Construction in Italy

Track the project by work front and acceptance gate rather than converting caisson count or linear metres into overall completion. The first operational test is an accepted eastern entrance wider than 300 metres; the later 500-metre Sampierdarena channel is a separate phase and should not be assumed from Phase 1 progress.

Current status 24 caissons installed and the first kilometre passed; seabed foundation, superstructure, dredging, and navigation-opening gates remain active Source confidence Confirmed

Location

Italy / Europe

Segment

Ports and coastal protection

Status

24 caissons installed and the first kilometre passed; seabed foundation, superstructure, dredging, and navigation-opening gates remain active / Confirmed

Evidence reviewed

15 July 2026

Controlled taxonomy

Related sectors

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Knowledge context

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Project anatomy

Scope, counterparties, and execution logic

Client / authority
Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority
Delivery parties
Webuild, Fincantieri Infrastructure Opere Marittime, Fincosit, Sidra
Contract route
The works were awarded in October 2022 to the PerGenova Breakwater consortium led by Webuild. The award record identifies a EUR 928 million value in the client's budget and consortium shares of Webuild 40%, Fincantieri Infrastructure Opere Marittime 25%, Fincosit 25%, and Sidra 10%. That award value is kept separate from an earlier EUR 1.19 billion historic works estimate used in a verification-procurement document.
Execution window
Construction was formally launched in May 2023. The current Webuild project page sets a 2027 Phase 1 objective for an eastern entrance more than 300 metres wide and a 2030 Phase 2 objective to widen the Sampierdarena Channel to 500 metres. Earlier launch material carried a November 2026 first-phase target; The current project-page dates control until the client publishes a newer programme.
Works package
The current project frame is approximately 6 kilometres of new open-sea breakwater. Its initial 4.8-kilometre phase uses more than 70 reinforced-concrete caissons, rock embankment, armour and superstructure works, about 9 million tonnes of rock material, and roughly 70,000 gravel columns or piles, generally 7 to 12 metres long, to consolidate seabed foundations at water depths reaching 50 metres. Caissons can exceed 67 metres in length, 30 metres in width, and 33 metres in height. Dredging, removal or reuse interfaces with the existing breakwater, and navigation-channel formation remain part of the wider marine system.
Marine interfaces
Delivery combines offshore ground improvement, rock placement, caisson construction, tow-out and controlled sinking, filling, armour and crown works, dredging, survey and monitoring, and live-port traffic. Work proceeds in exposed open sea with a large vessel fleet while maintaining access to container, ferry, cruise, shipyard, and industrial berths. Foundation behaviour, metocean windows, tow and immersion controls, the Genoa Aquarium seawater-pipe interface, sediment handling, and the transition from the old to the new entrance are independent risk fronts.
Commercial read
The 24th caisson and first kilometre demonstrate repeatable marine production, not a closed contract or an open navigation system. Linear progress is not proportional to total completion because seabed treatment, rock foundation, caisson placement, filling, armour, superstructure, dredging, removal, survey, and operational acceptance carry different quantities and sequencing. The EUR 928 million client-budget award should not be combined with historic estimates or treated as evidence of final cost.
Next milestone
Track the remaining gravel-column and rock-foundation acceptance, caisson production and placement, filling and superstructure continuity, armour-block installation, dredging quantities and sediment route, existing-breakwater interfaces, hydrographic evidence, and formal opening of the Phase 1 eastern entrance. Keep the later 500-metre Sampierdarena channel and final ultra-large-vessel access as separate acceptance outcomes.

Material change register

What changed, when, and what it proves

Only source-bound events that alter phase, scope, counterparties, delivery, completion, commissioning, or acceptance are listed. A change can advance the record without proving the next gate.

Twenty-fourth caisson installed in open sea

The record advances the repeatable tow-out and controlled-sinking work front to 24 installed units, while foundation completion, caisson-line continuity, filling, armour, superstructure, dredging, and navigation acceptance remain separate gates.

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Breakwater passed one kilometre with the twenty-third caisson

The caisson alignment exceeded one kilometre while seabed consolidation continued. The milestone does not show proportional overall completion, an accepted entrance or an operational navigation route.

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Fifteenth caisson and 50,000 gravel-column threshold reached

The update records 15 installed caissons, more than 50,000 gravel columns, reported 79 percent foundation-column progress and 87 percent seabed gravel placement at that date. Foundation monitoring and downstream structural and navigation gates remained open.

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First caisson positioned at 25 metres depth

The owner record moves the project from caisson fabrication into offshore placement and documents the first completed tow, sinking, and positioning cycle, without proving repeat production, connected superstructure, or usable port access.

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First stone marked the formal start of works

The Port Authority and consortium launch record marks the transition from award and executive design into construction. Its original scope and schedule statements remain dated baseline context rather than current completion evidence.

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Delivery watch

Evidence needed next

Track the remaining gravel-column and rock-foundation acceptance, caisson production and placement, filling and superstructure continuity, armour-block installation, dredging quantities and sediment route, existing-breakwater interfaces, hydrographic evidence, and formal opening of the Phase 1 eastern entrance. Keep the later 500-metre Sampierdarena channel and final ultra-large-vessel access as separate acceptance outcomes.

Decision watchpoints

  • Remaining gravel-column and rock-foundation completion and instrumentation evidence
  • Caisson construction, tow-out, sinking, filling, and line continuity
  • Armour-block and superstructure completion
  • Dredging quantities, sediment route, and accepted channel geometry
  • Removal or reuse interfaces with the existing breakwater
  • Hydrographic acceptance and formal opening of the eastern entrance
  • Phase 2 Sampierdarena Channel widening and final vessel-access acceptance

Related records 2

Project availability status

This public project page is a tracked market record rather than a tender notice, contractual commitment, or commercial instruction. Use the status, confidence label, evidence-review date, and source note together when judging how much weight to place on the signal.

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Record control

Evidence reviewed date is not a project-event date.

IMWO changes phase, participants, scope, completion, or acceptance wording only when a dated source establishes the change. The review date records when the evidence set was checked; it does not claim that physical work changed on that date.

Evidence reviewed 15 July 2026 Sources in this record 10

Source record

Webuild's 14 June and 9 June 2026 records control the latest 24-caisson and first-kilometre milestones. Its current project page controls the present 4.8-kilometre Phase 1 frame, more-than-70-caisson basis, seabed and rock quantities, caisson envelope, vessel objective, and 2027/2030 phase targets. The 12 December 2025 record establishes a bounded foundation-treatment milestone, while Port Authority records establish the May 2023 start of works and the first caisson positioned in May 2024. The 2022 award record controls consortium and client-budget value. Legacy 100-caisson, over-90-caisson, 7-million-tonne, and November 2026 statements are retained as dated design or schedule context and are not merged into the current frame without an explicit reconciliation.

Phase: construction. Evidence reviewed: 15 July 2026.

Project sources 10