Damen Delivers Dredge for New Nigerian Waterway
In April Damen Dredging Equipment delivered a CSD250 dredge to an industrial park owner in Nigeria. Ossiomo Investments plans to first construct a pond then a canal which will become a major access route to the park. Damen said creating the waterway has also helped boost the local economy.
The final canal will flow into the Benin River and through to the Atlantic Ocean. The owners plan to build a fertilizer plant on-site. On the new waterway barges will bring in all the components to build the fertilizer plant and when the plant is up and running the fi nished product – nitrogen fertilizer to boost Sub Saharan crops – can be shipped out on the new waterway.
Damen said that in February of this year the site was still a jungle. At that time a road to the plot was being made and the area for the pond was cleared. However there was still no pond for the dredge to start in. Damen said the project owner requested help from the locals who dug out the pond by hand earning money in the process. The locals sold the sand which was mainly used in the construction industry for roads.
The dredge started in the very shallow pond and is creating a canal 5.5 meters (about 18 feet) deep 21 meters (about 69 feet) wide and some 1.5 km (about .93 miles) long.
The Damen cutter suction dredge was delivered with 200 meters (about 656 yards) of floating pipeline and 500 meters (about 1640 feet) of shoreline HDPE pipelines spares a small boat and commissioning and training on-site. The dredge is creating a canal 5.5 meters deep 21 meters wide and some 1.5 km long. The dredge will pump 1000 cubic meters (about 1310 cubic yards) of sediment an hour. The 700 meters (about 2 296 feet) of pipeline run to the sandcollecting field on-site where the sand is stored before being sold to local construction projects.
Damen said eventually the full project which will be completed by the end of the summer will also include a widened harbor with quay walls and jetties around 500 square meters.
With a modular design the small dredge could reach the site through rough terrain. All the parts were packed in containers for a total weight of around 30 tons. All the shipping containers for the dredge and pipelines have been converted into offi ces and living quarters. Damen said the initiative has triggered other local actions. In the region the production of palm oil is abundant yet transport of the produce was problematic. Once the canal is fi nished other local commodities such as palm oil can also be shipped using the newly built inland port.
