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Coastal defense and
riverbank protection

Boskalis is a leading global player in the field of coastal defense and riverbank protection. We design, construct and maintain hard sea barriers, such as dikes, dams and flood barriers, and also soft sea defenses, such as beach and near-shore replenishment. In addition, we provide innovative solutions for forms of coastal protection based on the principles of building with nature such as the sand motors and the use of mangroves.

Ensuring safety and natural balance

Safety and a natural balance are the most important aspects of good coastal protection. Our vast experience and expertise enable us to assist you with the economic and environmental assessment of your coastal protection project. We have a proven track record and the drive to maintain a well-balanced ecosystem.


Our innovative and building with nature solutions

  • Sand motors use natural forces like tides, wind, currents and waves to spread sand along the coast from a central replenishment location.
  • The creation of a wave-reducing system. Examples are the combined approach of land reclamation and new mangrove forests to protect the North Java coastal area in Indonesia and a green wave reducing dike in The Netherlands. A willow forest, planted along the front of the dike, is expected to be able to absorb up to 80% of the waves’ force.

Our projects

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Rehabilitation of old breakwater, Port of Poti

The city of Poti is located at the mouth of Georgia’s largest river, the Rioni. It has been an important trade centre for centuries. Since the early 19th century, many plans have been developed for the creation of a major sea port. Construction work started in the 1850s on the main breakwater that is still protecting the port today. During its long lifetime, this structure has been maintained by frequently adding 20-60 tons of concrete cubes to the armour layer. Significant settlement of the structure over time has lowered the crest level considerably, resulting in large overtopping volumes and therefore in port-operation downtime. As a result, a rehabilitation project was executed between 2006 and 2008 by Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. to reduce the downtime caused by overtopping waves.

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Reclamation and dewatering works, Sepetiba Bay

The German steel-maker ThyssenKrupp Steel and the Brazilian mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) teamed up to construct a EUR 3 billion steel factory at Sepetiba. This is a small town of 36,000 inhabitants near Rio de Janeiro with good access to the Atlantic Ocean. The new steel factory allowed Brazil not only to export more of its plentiful mineral resources, but also to produce semi-finished products that can be sold at higher margins. The government authorities of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro both supported the project.

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Port development, Lerwick

The Port of Lerwick is situated on the east coast of the Shetland Islands, and is operated by Lerwick Port Authority. The 2008 dredging and reclamation works were one of the largest marine projects to be carried out in Scotland in recent years and constituted the largest single investment in the port to date.

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Port construction, Vuosaari

Vuosaari Harbor is the most significant harbor project in Finnish history; in fact, it is unique even on a European scale. Both existing harbors in Helsinki’s city centre are being transferred to the eastern outskirts of the city. They are being replaced with a harbor with excellent traffic connections that can meet the increasing demand for cargo handling. The Vuosaari Harbor Center will provide a competitive and modern service package, with smooth connections between harbor operations and other logistical facilities. The harbor center will comprise the gate area, the closed harbor area and the adjacent Business Parks. The fairway to the Harbor Center will be 32 km long, at least 200 m wide, and 11 m deep. The port area comprises 150 ha, of which 90 ha will be land reclaimed from the sea.

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Dredging, reclamation,
reconstruction and environmental
monitoring works, Vilufushi

The Republic of the Maldives consists of 1,190 small coral islands grouped into 26 atolls. Only 200 islands are inhabited. On 26 December 2004, a tsunami originating from Indonesian waters struck the Maldives. This natural disaster had major economic, social and environmental consequences. Of the 200 inhabited islands, 13 were totally destroyed and 56 suffered major damage, including the island of Vilufushi in Thaa Atoll. Houses and infrastructure were heavily damaged. All the surviving residents had to be evacuated to the neighboring island of Buruni to the west of Vilufushi. The government of the Maldives decided to reconstruct the entire island and to extend it considerably by landfilling the shallow reef. Boskalis International was appointed for this work.

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Land reclamation, Half Moon Bay Island Manama

‘Half Moon Bay’ island is situated in the Seef area of Manama in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The purpose of the island is to accommodate a future 5 Star Hotel development as well as several villas. Engineering Department Hydronamic was engaged to develop the design of the island and to provide advisory services to Boskalis Westminster Middle East. Through good co-operation between the design engineers of Hydronamic and the construction team of Boskalis Westminster Middle East innovative ideas were developed which could be integrated into the rock protection design resulting in the successful and efficient construction with significant cost savings to the project.

Our brands

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Boskalis Dragamex

Our company providing dredging and marine services in Mexico.

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Boskalis Hirdes

Our hydraulic engineering company in Germany.

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Boskalis Nederland

Infrastructure projects on land and water in The Netherlands.

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Boskalis Terramare

Expertise for demanding marine construction projects in the Nordic region.

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Boskalis Westminster

Our dredging and marine contractor in the UK.

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Dredging

For dredging and infrastructure related queries contact our Dredging department.

More about Boskalis

Building with Nature

Boskalis proactively developed Building with Nature to gain insight into the impact of hydraulic engineering projects on ecosystems.

Company profile

All about Boskalis - an overview of the company’s background, global presence, our activities, clients, and experts, and our vision for the future.

Careers

If you are interested in finding out more about what it is like to work for us, take a look at our dedicated Careers website. Here you will find our current vacancies, information about our traineeships, and much more.