Construction Site News

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced over $653 million to fund 41 port improvement projects across the nation under the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP).The investments—part of the largest dedicated funding for ports and waterways in history, nearly $17 billion through the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—are intended to help grow capacity and increase efficiency at coastal seaports, Great Lakes ports and inland…

Dutch offshore installation services company Van Oord is set to start the cable installation works on Iberdrola's Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm in Germany."After Van Oord’s heavy lift installation vessel Svanen completed installation of all fifty monopiles for Iberdrola Deutschland’s Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm, Van Oord now continues installing transition pieces and starts cable installation. This week the inter-array cable loading onto Van Oord’s cable-laying vessel Nexus has commenced…

Weathernews’s new ANEMOI service provides 1km-mesh wind and wave data to assist in planning of offshore work related to the construction of wind power generation facilities.Weathernews developed ANEMOI for offshore wind power businesses and construction companies that is designed to provide wind and waveforecasts as well as information on meteorological risks, such as lightning strikes and typhoons. With the aid of this service, wave, wind, and other offshore forecasts can be…

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District began construction of an underwater sill October 11, 2022, across the bed of the Mississippi River channel to prevent further upriver progression of salt water from the Gulf of Mexico.The Mississippi River’s volume of water has fallen to a level that allows salt water to intrude upstream. Saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico moves upriver in a wedge shape that may stretch up approximately 20 miles from the bottom to the surface of the river.To stop the salt water from moving upriver and reduce the risk to freshwater intakes…

Saipem's giant Saipem 7000 semi-submersible crane vessel is set to return to operation at the Seagreen wind farm site in the UK a month and a half after it was involved in a tilting incident in Norway.As previously reported, in mid-April, Saipem 7000 tilted in a fjord in Norway with 275 people aboard. The vessel tilted during the planned 5 years main cranes load test, when, as Saipem said, the main block wire broke during the test lifting operation and the testing load (two cargo barges) with the main block was released into the water.Now the vessel appears ready to return to work…

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Buffalo District awarded a $3.85 million contract to Illinois-based Great Lakes Dock and Materials, L.L.C. on March 31 for repairs to the Rochester Harbor East Pier in Rochester, N.Y.Repairs will ensure the pier, along with its adjacent federal navigation channel, continue to provide safe passage and refuge for commercial and recreational vessels between the Genesee River, Lake Ontario and the rest of the Great Lakes.“The Port of Rochester…

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Memphis District held a groundbreaking ceremony in Caruthersville, Mo., April 3, to celebrate a federally funded project to replace the Caruthersville Mississippi River floodwall.The new floodwall will enhance the safety of more than 135,000 residents, $6.28 billion of property, and $7.5 billion of agriculture.This project will replace approximately 3,000 linear feet of floodwall. The gravity wall sections will be replaced with inverted T-Wall sections and the floodwall will also be raised one foot in height.

Hong Kong is in "all-out combat" to contain a surge in coronavirus cases, the city's number two official said on Sunday, with the ramping up of community isolation and treatment units helped by mainland Chinese construction teams.Scenes of people lying outside public hospitals in the rain and chilly weather have shocked many in the global financial hub, leading to an apology from authorities. Officials have now organized facilities to shelter patients amid a drop in temperatures as healthcare facilities are overwhelmed.Officials reported 6…

Manufacturing works on DemoSATH, Saitec Offshore’s & RWE Renewables concrete floating wind platform project, are accelerating in the Spanish Port of Bilbao, with the latest milestone being the handling operation of the prototype, Saitec Offshore said Friday.The SATH Technology floater is based on a twin hull, made of modularly prefabricated and subsequently braced concrete elements. It can align itself around a single point of mooring depending to the wind and wave direction.Once fully completed…

French shipping startup NEOLINE confirmed it has chosen NEOPOLIA Mobility and signed an LOI for the construction of its first 136-meter sailing cargo ship following a new international tender.The project is now in the financial closure phase with the objective of starting construction this Summer, aiming for a commissioning in the first half of 2024, NEOLINE said.NEOLINE's decision to select the offer of the Loire-based company Neopolia Mobility comes at the end of a second international…

Shipbuilding group Damen said it has delivered the 111-meter Damen Stan Pontoon 11226 RD mega-barge Tomsk to heavy lift and project cargo shipping company Combi Lift. The barge will be used in the construction of Gazprom’s Amur Gas Processing Plant near Russia’s eastern border, transporting some of the largest components to the site.This contract follows a 19 vessel order placed with Damen by Combi Lift that was delivered in May 2018. It was comprised of four Multi Cat 2608SD workboats, four Pusher Tugs 2612SD, four Side Floaters 8605SD and seven 89-meter Stan Pontoons 8916SD.

Norwegian oil and gas giant Equinor last year said that the delivery of an FPSO, being built for the Johan Castberg field development in the Barents Sea, would be delayed after the company discovered issues with the weld quality of the hull of the FPSO under construction in Singapore.In an update on Monday, Equinor said that, following the initial findings, an in-house investigation team from Equinor had studied the deviation in quality of welding and inspection of the Johan Castberg FPSO…

Republican Senator Ted Cruz put a hold late on Friday on President Joe Biden's pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency to pressure the administration to put tough sanctions on Russia's Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project.The Senate Intelligence Committee last week backed William Burns, a former ambassador to Russia, by a unanimous vote. Burns has been confirmed by the Senate for five previous jobs over 33 years and is expected to eventually be approved by the full…

The Russia-led Nord Stream 2 consortium said on Monday it has completed laying pipes for the project in German waters, finishing work on a 2.6 kilometer-long portion of the pipeline, which had been stalled by the threat of U.S. sanctions."We have completed this work," the consortium said in an emailed statement, referring to the pipe-laying in the German economic zone.Earlier on Monday, Refinitiv Eikon data showed the Russian pipe-laying vessel Fortuna has left the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline construction site in Germany's section of the Baltic Sea.The Fortuna earlier this month resumed work on the pipeline, which will pump gas directly from Russia to western Europe, bypassing Ukraine.

The Russian pipe-laying vessel Fortuna has left the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline construction site in the Baltic Sea, Refinitiv Eikon data showed on Monday, indicating that the 2.6-km stretch of the project in German waters may have been completed.Fortuna was now heading for the north German port of Wismar, the data showed.The Fortuna earlier this month resumed work on the pipeline, which will pump gas directly from Russia to western Europe, bypassing Ukraine. Work had been suspended for a year due to the risks of sanctions from the United States.Nord Stream-2 did not respond to a request for comment on Monday on the latest developments.The pipeline…

A Russian pipe-laying vessel, Fortuna, has arrived at the construction site of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, Refinitiv Eikon data showed on Friday, with work on the project set to resume.There are also several procurement vessels near the site, according to the data.The Akademik Cherskiy, another, more modern pipe-laying vessel which had arrived at the site north of the German and Polish coasts last week, has since moved away and is now drifting near the Russian port of Kaliningrad.Nord Stream 2 has repeatedly declined to comment on which vessel will lay the pipes and when exactly works to construct the pipeline, which will run from Russia to Europe across the Baltic Sea…

Russian pipe-laying vessel Akademik Cherskiy stopped on Saturday near the construction site of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, Refinitiv Eikon data showed on Saturday.The consortium led by Gazprom building the 1,230 kilometers (km) pipeline said last month that work would resume after it was suspended a year ago when U.S. sanctions targeted companies involved in the construction.The U.S. ambassador to Berlin called on the German government and the European Union to put a temporary halt to construction work on the pipeline to send a signal to Moscow.Washington says the pipeline, which has become a flashpoint in relations between Russia and the West that have sunk to post-Cold War lows…

LNG developer Venture Global LNG has said that its under-construction LNG project Calcasieu Pass LNG in Cameron, Louisiana has sustained "minimal impacts" from Hurricane Laura which made landfall early on Thursday in southwestern Louisiana as a category 4 storm.Venture Global LNG is building the 10 MTPA Calcasieu Pass facility at the intersection of the Calcasieu Ship Channel and the Gulf of Mexico, that is expected to become operational in 2022.In a statement on Thursday, the…

A cruise ship has arrived in Russia's northwesterly Murmansk region to accommodate healthy staff from a construction site run by the gas company Novatek, one of Russia's coronavirus hotspots, a local crisis centre said.Novatek, one of the world's top liquefied natural gas (LNG) companies, is building a facility to produce gravity-based platforms for its future LNG plants in Belokamenka near Murmansk, a region bordering Finland and Norway.Many of Russia's oil and gas facilities are located in remote areas where people live and work in close proximity for weeks on end, so that any contagious disease is hard to contain.Russia has nearly 166,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, more than France, of which 1,937 have been recorded in Belokamenka, according to the local crisis response centre.

Dutch shipyard Royal Niestern Sander has begun building a new aft for a passenger ferry that will be converted to liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion for German operator AG Ems.The shipyard is designing and building a completely new stern section to replace the one existing on the 1986-built passenger ship Münsterland, which will be fited with dual fuel engines, LNG storage tanks, propulsion systems, all LNG installations, pipelines and other systems.Niestern Sander was awarded the contract to undertake the project in July 2019…

The ramping up of shipbuilding programs in Adelaide this year is providing an employment lifeline for South Australia as the state’s looks for ways to tackle boost jobs growth post coronavirus.There are already almost 700 people working on the Hunter Class Frigate Program. Those numbers are expected to reach 1000 by, the end of the year and 1,500 by mid-2025 before reaching a peak of 2,400 in 2028.Nine anti-submarine warfare frigates will be built by ASC Shipbuilding at the Osborne…

The 1.3 Million cbm HES Hartel Tank Terminal, a project of HES International, has been completed on schedule.The HHTT Consortium, comprising Van Hattum and Blankevoort (Koninklijke VolkerWessels), Mobilis (TBI) and Boskalis Nederland, has handed over the construction site to its client, the Port of Rotterdam Authority. This contract involved a total amount of over EUR 100 million.The HHTT Consortium started constructing this challenging project on Maasvlakte in December 2017.The project comprises the construction of a 1,200-metre-long deep-sea quay wall and the connection of the new quay to the existing quay, a quay wall over a length of 1,000 metres for five inland vessels, complete with shore power, and a 350-metre jetty with four berths.

Jan De Nul Group, the international  dredging company, said that the maintenance dredging works in the marinas of Nieuwpoort on the Belgian coast got underway.“What makes this project so unique, are the CO2-reducing measures taken by Jan De Nul Group. An example for the industry and future dredging works in Europe,” said a press release from the company. "Its an example for the industry and future dredging works in Europe."The maintenance dredging works in Nieuwpoort entail the dredging works in the port access channel and in the marinas. A large part of the dredging works are executed by means of the Cutter Suction Dredger Hendrik Geeraert and the split hopper barges Magellano and Verrazzano.Earlier this year, Jan De Nul Group announced its commitment to emit 15% less CO2 on this project.