Breakwaters and shore protection on remote island locations

On many remote islands, large rocks are scarce. As land area on these islands is limited, opening quarries to produce enough quantities of large rocks for protection works is often difficult.

Therefore, rock armour needs to be imported over long distances. Constructing with Xbloc or XblocPlus reduces the amount of materials, transport and  resulting CO2 emissions.

Both the Xbloc and especially the XblocPlus system are based on a conservative design stability number. Due to the high intrinsic safety factor, the systems provide resilience against increasing wave heights due to climate change whereas rock structures will require maintenance during their lifespan. The manufacture of Xbloc and XblocPlus can also give a boost to the local economy by providing jobs.

Xbloc shore protections have also been constructed on remote island states such as Tahiti, St Vincent and La Réunion. In 2021 a new shore protection with Xbloc will be constructed in Tahiti and another shore protection with XblocPlus in La Réunion.