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.

Beach replenishment, Newbiggin Bay

Newbiggin by the Sea was once a seaside resort, with the residential area focused around the bay. The beach has severely eroded over the years. If the coastline would continue to recede, sea walls could begin to collapse, imperilling coastline properties. The falling beach levels and increased risk of seawall failure led to a strategy and proposal to import beach fill, along with construction of an offshore breakwater to retain material. Boskalis expanded the existing beach and protected it from erosion.

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.

Removal of overburden for bauxite mine, Klaverblad

Surinam’s alumina exports accounted for 70% of the total export figures. Aluminum is produced from bauxite and so bauxite mining was one of the country's vital industries. Growing demand for metals in fast-growing economies led BHP Billiton Maatschappij to open up a fourth mine alongside the three bauxite mines they already operated in Surinam. The mine location on the banks of the River Surinam was covered by a thick layer of clay. Borehole information and surveys showed that an area of about 130 ha needed to be cleared of bush, followed by the removal of the top layer and dewatering to an average depth of 14 meters. Safety and the prevention of dredging-related turbidity in the river were areas requiring particular attention.

Maintenance, Martin Garcia channel

The Rio Parana is the principal fairway for transporting the massive exports of agricultural products from the fertile plains of Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. Ocean going vessels sail the Parana River to the loading terminals in the Rosario region, situated 300 km upstream from the Rio de La Plata estuary. Both the Rio Parana and the Rio Uruguay flow into the Rio de la Plata. The Rio de la Plata can be described as a shallow inland-sea with natural depths between 1 and 6 m. The mouth of the Rio Parana from the Ocean is approximately 250 km. The Rio de la Plata has a width of 40 km on the upstream side near Buenos Aires and about 200 km downstream at the level of Montevideo.

Dredging, reclamation and dewatering works, Gas-to-Liquids facility Escravos

The Escravos Gas-to-Liquids facility (EGTL) converts natural gas feed into high quality, environmentally superior, liquid GTL fuel, naphtha, and LPG products. The facility feed is approximately 320 million SCFD of natural gas and the facility produces approximately 33,000 BPD of products. The EGTL facility will be built on the north bank of the Escravos River tidal outlet, in the Niger Delta about 2 kilometers north of its confluence with the Atlantic Ocean on the Bight of Benin, approximately 100 nautical miles south east of Lagos, and 37 nautical miles west of Warri, Nigeria.

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.