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Land reclamation

Boskalis is a global expert in sustainable and cost-competitive land reclamation. We use various techniques to reclaim land and protect shorelines using our state-of-the-art fleet of dredging vessels and specialized equipment. Soil can be improved through drainage and compacting techniques in preparation of the construction of airport runways, commercial and industrial areas, wind parks and recreational areas.

New land thanks to economically and ecologically sound solutions

With years of experience, we can handle the entire process – from feasibility study through to project completion. Our state-of-the-art dredging vessels and specialized equipment ensure performance and cost efficiency. Their large capacity means that land can be reclaimed at an attractive cost. Similarly, our innovative soil consolidation and compacting techniques enable you to considerably reduce construction time and save costs. We can even provide financing assistance thanks to our close relations with financial institutions.

Re-use of sand and sediment

Our aim is to re-use as much of the sand as possible for land reclamation when deepening waterways and ports. Not all the sand that we wish to use for this purpose is suitable, but thanks to innovations and research we are now able to re-use sand and sediment that was previously unusable. The innovative building with silt on the Marker Wadden nature restoration project is a good example of this.

Our projects

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Port development, Gothenburg

Gothenburg turns around some 34 million tons of cargo annually, including 700,000 TEU (containers), and is unique in the region. With regard to the variety and frequency of calls from intercontinental liner trade the port is outstanding in Sweden. The port can be reached from the sea via two different channels: Torshamnen Fairway and Böttö Fairway. From a navigational point of view both channels needed to be deepened and widened at a number of places. Thus there were two good reasons to enhance the fairways: securing the port’s future as the premier port for liner trade and creating safer navigation. This resulted into a major dredging contract which was awarded in June 2002 to Boskalis Westminster Dredging Company.

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Remediation, Urk harbor area

Many port areas requiring dredging works have been forced to put projects on hold due to the absence of an environmentally safe solution for the disposal or processing of contaminated sediments. While this is a global problem, the availability of central, large-scale repositories in the Netherlands has transformed disposal economics at the national level. Nevertheless, the high level of debris encountered during the dredging of ports and harbors remains a major challenge to all contractors. The hydraulic transport of sediments with a high debris content is impossible.

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Port construction, Pusan

The 4th largest container terminal in the world is located in the South East of the South Korean peninsula at Busan. As the old port is completely surrounded by the metro-city, expansion of the old port is restricted. To solve the chronic phenomenon of cargo congestion MOMAF (Ministry of Marine and Fisheries) decided in 1997 to construct a new port situated 20 km west of Busan with a final total handling capacity of 4.6 million TEU and total expenses of 4.2 billion USD.

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Port construction and environmental monitoring, Mejillones

Boskalis International B.V. was working as a subcontractor to the Chilean civil contractor Empresa Constructora BELFI SA, which was awarded the contract to construct phase 1 of the New Mega Port Mejillones. This port has been developed in order to ship the copper of the Chilean mining corporation CODELCO.

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Cleanup, Ketelmeer

Ketelmeer, a lake in the Netherlands with a length of some 10 kilometers and a width varying from two to three kilometers, separates the North Eastern and Southern Polders constructed during the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is a major example of the problem of 'historic pollution'. Lake Ketelmeer receives the waters of the Rijn and IJssel and over a period of three or more decades, tens of millions of cubic meters of highly contaminated sediments entered Ketelmeer from hundreds of upstream locations. The bottom was covered by polluted sediments to an average depth of 50 cm. A significant proportion of this material had to be removed, or capped by the cleaner sediments of recent years, if a normal aquatic environment was to be restored.

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Tunnel construction Warnow, Rostock

The Warnow Tunnel is located in Rostock, Germany, at the old mouth of the river Warnow in the Baltic Sea. In the DDR period this area grew out to be the main harbor of East-Germany. After the 'turn' (die Wende) in 1989 the port more or less died. Goods came cheaper and quicker from Rotterdam, Bremen and Hamburg by rail.

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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Boskalis Environmental

Our specialist in soil and sediment washing, as well as remediation.

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Cofra

Our specialist in ground improvement techniques.

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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.