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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.