Construction and maintenance of ports

Project highlights

Creating Gorgon

In 2009, Boskalis was awarded a contract on the Chevron-operated Gorgon Project, one of the largest and most complex contracts to be undertaken in our history. Our scope of work included the design and construction of some of the port facilities at Barrow Island.

Duqm port construction

This extraordinary EPC project we dredged a new harbor basin and entrance channel with a depth of 18 meters, constructed a kilometer-long quay wall, two 400 meter-long jetties and reclaimed land for a port platform including ground improvement and associated 4 km shore protection.

Co-creation in Brazil

From 2011-15, Boskalis was involved in the construction of one of Latin America’s largest port-industry complexes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Boskalis dredged two huge access channels, a turning basin, an inner channel, mooring berths and constructed revetments for the breakwater and over 13 km of access roads.

Dredging techniques

Trailing suction hopper dredger

Trailing suction hopper dredgers can fill their own holds (hoppers) by sucking material from the seabed using a trailing suction head fitted to pipes that trail over the bed as the ship sails.

Cutter section dredger

Dredging with a cutter suction dredger takes place while the vessel is moored with spuds or anchors and consists of powerful cutting action combined with suction.

Backhoe dredger

A backhoe dredger (BHD) is a hydraulic excavator installed on a pontoon. Dredging is executed by the excavator which is mounted on a turntable at the front of the pontoon. The backhoe dredger is mainly used for dredging in shallow or confined waters.

Port development, Pipavav

As a result of the booming container market in recent years, GPPL and APM Terminals introduced a long term investment plan to further develop the port’s facilities. Phase 2 of the expansion program included the reclamation of a new storage (container stacking) area and the extension of the port’s capacity by deepening the approach, channels and berths, allowing larger (container) vessels to enter the port. Zinkcon Marine Singapore, a subsidiary of Boskalis International B.V., won the contract for the dredging and reclamation works for Phase 2. In the beginning of 2009, however, the client re-evaluated the investment against the background of the dramatic effects of the economic crisis, which seriously affected the global container market. GPPL, APMT and ZMS agreed to optimize the project in such a way that all parties would benefit.

Reclamation, dredging and excavation, The Wave

Through Orascom, the Omani government is developing their tourist and real estate sector in order to diversify its economical drivers. The Wave, Muscat is the first freehold tourism and residential development to be launched in the Sultanate of Oman. The USD 805 million project will stretch along 7 kilometers (4.35 miles) of beachfront land overlooking the Gulf of Oman and covers an area of approximately 2.5 million square meters (26.9 million square feet). It is located in Muscat, Oman's capital city, about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from Muscat’s Seeb International Airport.

Land reclamation and revetments works, Salam Yiti

Salam Yiti is located near the south of Muscat, about 40 minutes away from Muscat’s international airport, and minutes from the traditional business and hotel district of Qurum. The Salam Yiti development covers 420 hectares of land and climbs as high as 140 meters above sea level. The project is being developed at a cost of USD 1.7 billion. It was scheduled for completion by 2013. The development plan features luxury hotels, state-of-the-art spas, exclusive villas and apartments, and luxury townhouses set on the beach and in the mountains and select shopping and dining outlets, all surrounded by a championship golf course, marina, a wellness and eco-marine center.

Dredging, reclamation and
shore protection, Soyo LNG

Angola is one of the world’s deep water oil exploration ‘hot spots’. More than 50 significant oil discoveries in Blocks 14, 15, 17 and 18 are believed to contain at least 10 billion barrels of oil. With the increase in oil production comes large quantities of associated gas. Historically, in the absence of a local market, associated gas has been flared or reinjected into the reservoirs. Sonangol, the state oil company, and some of its oil producing partners developed the Angola LNG Project to reduce flaring of gas and curtail gas injection. Angola LNG is a joint venture project involving the major oil producers in the country. Sonangol and Chevron are the co-leaders of the project; the other partners are Total, ENI and BP.

Port expansion, Ras Laffan

The Ras Laffan project is one of the largest maritime engineering projects in the world. Its sheer size can best be viewed from space. Over a period of three years, more than 3,000 specialists have been working together to create the largest LNG harbor in the world. The total contract value is approximately USD 2 billion, with the Boskalis share amounting to 50%. Qatar has natural gas reserves of roughly 25 trillion m³, 15% of the world total. The gas is transported from the Offshore North Field (26,000 billion m³), 80 kilometers north of Qatar, into Ras Laffan, where it is liquefied and pumped into latest generation tankers.

Channel deepening, Melbourne

To maintain its position as number one container and general cargo port in Australia, the Port of Melbourne Corporation (PoMC) proposed a plan to make the port accessible to 14m draught vessels during all tidal phases. Following the selection of a partner in April 2004 an Alliance Agreement was developed between PoMC and Boskalis Australia Pty Ltd, i.e, a contract where risk sharing was the norm and Boskalis could provide advice during the project development phase using its ‘in house’ expertise and experience.