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, Tanger Med 2

Tanger-Med is a cargo and passenger port located about 40 km east of Tangiers, Morocco, on the Straits of Gibraltar at the crossing of two major maritime routes only 15 km from the European mainland.

Port upgrade, Pointe Noire

The rehabilitation of the Port of Pointe-Noire focused on the renovation and upgrading of the main infrastructure of the port and its adaptation to developments in containerized traffic, offering a draught of -15 m. Furthermore, the work included the construction of a protective berm, an extension of the external breakwater, the rehabilitation and extension of quays, and dredging work.

Land reclamation artificial island, Punta Pacifica

The shoreline of Panama has increasingly become densely populated and, as the economy has boomed over the past 10 years, there is strong demand for high-end products. The real-estate market has taken a revolutionary step with the completion of the the first artificial real-estate island in the Americas.

Construction LNG port, Swinoujscie

The protective breakwater for Swinoujscie External Port comprises a 3 km long breakwater and groyne for a new outer harbor construction to facilitate a LNG tanker berth and other related activities in the Baltic Sea. The construction of the breakwater took 2 ½ years and was completed in December 2012. Boskalis International B.V. was the leader of a consortium consisting of Boskalis International B.V., Hochtief, Aarsleff and Doraco.

Port expansion,
Maasvlakte 2

PUMA, the Project Organization for the Extension of the Maasvlakte, is a 50/50 joint venture between dredging and marine contractors Boskalis and Van Oord. The consortium has been contracted by the Rotterdam Port Authority to construct the first phase of the Maasvlakte 2 Project – the extension of the Port of Rotterdam – between 2008 and 2013. The new zone will encompass 2,000 hectares of new land, roughly the same size as the total surface area of Schiphol airport. Half of the area will become land for a future business park.

Riverbed and slope protection, Gbaran Ubie

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has constructed a gas processing facility in the Niger Delta on the outside bank of a bend of the River Nun at Gbaran Ubie, north of Yenagoa. To facilitate the importation of the processing modules, a Materials Offloading Quay was constructed, including a ro-ro ramp, a passenger jetty and a fire water station.