Dredging International News

Belgian dredging group DEME has been awarded a contract as part of a joint venture for the widening of the Kiel Canal in Germany.Two DEME subsidiaries are to carry out marine dredging works for the €99m (£84m) widening of a 4km stretch of the Kiel Canal. Works started in January 2020 and will run until the end of 2023.The Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration, represented by the WSA Kiel-Holtenau, commissioned the joint venture with the construction work to expand 4 km of the eastern section of the Kiel Canal.The contract carries a total value of approximately EUR 99 million in which the DEME Group’s subsidiaries Nordsee Nassbagger…

A major modernization contract for the deepening and widening of a 62 km section of the Świnoujście – Szczecin fairway in Poland has been awarded to Van Oord and DEME Group subsidiary Dredging International.The investment by the Maritime Office in Szczecin will improve access to the Szczecin seaport and increase the port capacity to handle a growing volume of cargo.The project is a design and build contract to deepen and widen the fairway along a section of approximately 62 km from -10.5 to -12.5 m. The dredged materials will be used to build two artificial islands in the Szczecin lagoon.

SOHAR Port and Freezone have signed an agreement with Dredging International NV – Earth Moving Worldwide LTD (DINV-EMW JV) for the development of Phase 1 of the SOHAR Port South Construction Package I. Totalling an investment of USD 24mn (approx. OMR 9.24mn), the agreement will see the development of the first 50 hectares of useable land within the new port expansion; which is expected to be fully completed by Q4 2018. The agreement was signed on April 18 at a ceremony held at SOHAR Port and Freezone head office in Sohar. Signing the agreement on behalf of SOHAR was the CEO, Mark Geilenkirchen, and DCEO- CEO SOHAR Freezone, Jamal Aziz; while DINV-EMW JV were represented by Alberto Mino, Area Manager of Dredging International NV, and Yves Aertssen, Director of the EMW group.

Wärtsilä is to supply the engines and other propulsion machinery for a new offshore construction vessel being built at the Cosco shipyard in China. The ship owner is Belgian operator Dredging International (DEME). This will be the first vessel of its kind to be fueled by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and in addition to the dual-fuel engines, Wärtsilä will also provide its LNGPac fuel storage and supply system and propulsion systems. The orders with Wärtsilä were booked in the fourth quarter of 2016 and in February 2017.

Wärtsilä said it has been contracted to supply a comprehensive package of engines and propulsion machinery for a new cutter suction dredger (CSD) vessel slated to become the world's most powerful and first ever to be fuelled by liquefied natural gas (LNG). The newbuild, Spartacus, is being built at the Royal IHC yard in the Netherlands on behalf of Belgium based Dredging International (DEME). The order with Wärtsilä, worth around $21 million, was booked in the fourth quarter of 2016. The 164-meter-long vessel will have a total installed power of 44,180 kW.

Anglo Belgian Corporation (ABC) signed a contract with Van der Kamp Dredging International B.V. from Zwolle to deliver four main 12DZD dual fuel generating sets - which in total will deliver about 8000 KWm at 1000 rpm - for a new Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger (TSHD) called ‘Ecodelta’. With this contract, a reputed and internationally operating dredging company chooses again for ABC's dual fuel main generating sets. From 2018 onwards, the 'Ecodelta' - with a capacity of 5,500 m³ - will keep the port basins at depth of the Port of Rotterdam. With ABC's dual fuel engines, a gas-air mixture is drawn into the cylinders, which is then compressed. A small diesel pilot fuel ignites the combustion. Liquified natural gas (LNG) is more environmentally friendly.

The Kipevu Oil Terminal at Mombasa Port will be relocated early next year, to Dongo Kundu area, as a result of the ongoing capacity expansion program, the Kenya Ports Authority announced. The new oil terminal is expected to have a capacity to accommodate four vessels of up to 200,000 DWT. The project also involves building new cargo handling facilities with both subsea and land based pipelines and four berths capable of loading/discharging crude oil, HFO, DPK-aviation, AGO-Diesel and PMS-Petrol. The other element is the topside, whose initial implementation will be for three berths but layout will recognize the need for implementation of the fourth berth at a later date.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has started the construction of a new container terminal at the western end of the island to replace existing container port facilities and consolidate operations for the long term. The first phase of the Tuas Terminal project will have 20 deepwater berths with an initial capacity to handle an annual traffic of 20 million twenty-foot-container equivalent units (TEUs), rising to 65 million TEUs when completed by 2046. The start of construction was marked on Friday by Singapore’ Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan with the launching the first caisson.

On 1 February a European consortium launched a new Horizon 2020 project: Blue Nodules. This project addresses the challenge of creating a viable and sustainable value chain to retrieve polymetallic nodules from the ocean floor. It will develop and test new highly-automated and sustainable technologies for deep-sea mining with minimal environmental pressures. The technical side of the project is dedicated to subsea harvesting equipment in addition to the in-situ seafloor and sea surface processing of polymetallic nodules. The operational aspect focuses on sea operations and logistics, including compliance with, and development of, rules and regulations, and the business case.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation, the largest provider of dredging services in the United States and a major provider of environmental and remediation services, announced today that it will participate in the events planned to celebrate the recent completion of the New Suez Canal Project in Egypt, which will allow two way traffic by creating a parallel channel alongside 70 kilometers of the existing Canal. The inauguration ceremony is scheduled today August 6, 2015. Great Lakes, along with its Consortium partner Dredging International NV, was responsible for dredging approximately 40 million cubic meters to -24m depth along a 29.5 kilometer stretch of the Canal for a contract value of US$600 million.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Dredging International Asia Pacific-Daelim Joint Venture (DDJV) have inked a contract for the USD 1.83 billion Tuas Terminal Phase 1 Reclamation, Wharf Construction and Dredging Project. The Tuas Terminal Phase 1 project is large in scope, and entails the construction of a new port terminal with 20 deep-water berths having a total capacity of 20 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per annum. The Joint Venture will be responsible for the erection of an 8.6-kilometre quay wall and its foundation, the dredging of the fairway and basins, as well as the reclamation of 294 hectares of new land.

South Korea's fourth-largest builder Daelim Industrial Co has won a deal valued at US$646.03 million to construct a port facility in Singapore. The project is expected to take about six years. Under the deal with the Singaporean Maritime and Port Authority, Daelim will dredge and construct port facilities as part of the first phase of the Tuas Terminal project in the Southeast Asian country, according to the company. To ensure its port facilities are in line with changes in container shipping, Singapore will centralize all container operations in the Tuas district. This will take place in phases and the first berths in Tuas, which is in the southwestern part of Singapore, are expected to be operational sometime in the early 2020s.

While the marine industry is rife with rough working conditions, dredging operations arguably pose the toughest challenge to any class of marine equipment. Water lubricated Thordon Composite cutterhead shaft bearings have reportedly performed well for nine years on one of the largest cutter suction dredgers in the world –Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering N.V. (DEME)’s D’Artagnan (28,200 kW total installed power). The vessel had a major dry docking at Drydocks World-Dubai in February 2014 where the shaft was removed, and bearings and shaft inspected.

Water lubricated Thordon Composite cutterhead shaft bearings have performed well for nine years on one of the largest cutter suction dredgers in the world–Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering N.V. (DEME)’s D'Artagnan (28,200 kW total installed power). The vessel had a major dry docking at Drydocks World-Dubai in February 2014 where the shaft was removed, and bearings and shaft inspected. Originally built in 2005, the D'Artagnanself-propelled cutter suction dredgeris involved in very heavy rock-breaking having a cutting power for operations in rock soils of 6000 kW.

For enhancing the draft in ports or undertaking major dredging projects, India still relies on foreign dredging giants, a situation not likely to change unless the government comes out with a policy encouraging investment in the dredging industry. European dredging giants continue to make a clean sweep of all major Indian dredging projects, a market condition largely attributed to the lack of an environment conducive to encouraging Indian companies into large scale dredging. In short, there are no parallel “protectionist policies” in place like those that exists in several maritime countries. Big players in the India dredging market…

The International Association of Dredging Companies presented its Best Paper Award for a Young Author for the 28th time at the CEDA Dredging Days 12-13 December 2012 in Abu Dhabi, to Mr. Arnaud Verschelde for his paper ‘Erosion Behaviour of a Draghead’. Mr. Arnaud Verschelde graduated from the Delft University of Technology ‘Faculty of 3mE’ (Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering). He is presently a Project Engineer Automation at DEME (Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering). The erosion behaviour of a draghead designed in-house at DEME was investigated.

Unique Maritime Group of UAE have announced that they have recently delivered two Echoscope 3D Sonars to DI-MEDCO, a joint venture between Dredging International and Middle East Dredging Company for the planned shore protection and harbor construction works of two artificial islands. The Echoscope, produced by CodaOctopus Products, is a unique sonar capable of producing real-time 3D imagery, enabling the operators of visualise underwater activity in 3D even in zero visibility conditions.

Unique Maritime Group announced that it had recently delivered two Echoscope 3D Sonars to DI-MEDCO, a joint venture between Dredging International and Middle East Dredging Company for the planned shore protection and harbor construction works of two artificial islands. The Echoscope, produced by CodaOctopus Products, is a sonar capable of producing real-time 3D imagery, enabling the operators of visualize underwater activity in 3D even in zero visibility conditions. “The procurement of the Echoscopes compliments our underwater operations,” said Dirk Draulans, Project Manager at Dredging International. “They shall provide us with enhanced operational efficiency.

The D’Artagnan, the most powerful self-propelled heavy duty cutter suction dredger in the world, arrived at the Panama Canal January 11. Upon its arrival, the latest addition to the Panama Canal Authority’s (ACP) expansion dredging fleet then made its way to the Pacific entrance, which will ultimately link the new Pacific locks with the Canal’s existing Gaillard Cut (the narrowest stretch of the Panama Canal). The D’Artagnan, which is able to dredge hard rock locations that previously required drilling and blasting, will complete the dredging of the waterway’s Pacific entrance.

Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Administrator/CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta, joined by DEME Group CEO Alain Bernard, recently unveiled a model of the D'Artagnan dredger during a ceremony at the Panama Canal's Miraflores Visitors' Center.  The D'Artagnan is the most powerful self-propelled heavy duty cutter suction dredger in the world, with its special design for cutting rocks and sand dredging. Owned by Belgian company Dredging International (part of the DEME group), the D'Artagnan will be used in the expansion of the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announced that Dredging International N.V. has been awarded the contract to dredge an area of the Panama Canal's manmade body of water, Gatun Lake. The dredging project is another integral element of the Canal's Expansion Program. The primary element within the scope of work for this contract is to widen and deepen the existing navigational channel by dredging approximately 4.6 million cubic meters in the northern most reaches of the Lake. This contract is one component within the ACP's Fresh Water Dredging and Excavation Project for the Canal Expansion, which includes the dredging and/or excavation of about 30 million cubic meters in Gatun Lake and the Gaillard Cut (the narrowest stretch of the Panama Canal).

Six companies submitted bids June 1 to dredge an area of the Panama Canal’s manmade body of water, Gatun Lake. The ACP will now analyze the technical and financial submissions and award the contract to the firm with the lowest-priced bid that meets the requirements stated in the request for proposal. The primary element within the scope of work for this contract is to widen and deepen the existing navigational channel by dredging approximately 4.6 million cubic meters in the northern most reaches of the Lake. This contract is one component within the ACP’s Fresh Water Dredging and Excavation Project for the Canal Expansion, which includes the dredging and/or excavation of about 30 million cubic meters in Gatun Lake and the Gaillard Cut (the narrowest stretch of the Panama Canal).

Manning the controls of a large cutter suction dredge, Panamanian President Martín Torrijos kicked off the Pacific sea entrance dredging work for the waterway’s expansion on Nov. 17. He was accompanied by First Vice-President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Samuel Lewis Navarro, Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Board Chair and Minister of Canal Affairs Dani Kuzniecky and ACP Administrator/CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta. In April 2008, the ACP awarded Belgium-based Dredging International the $177.5 million contract to dredge the Pacific sea entrance…