ACCESS CHANNEL TO PORT MERSIN TURKEY TO BE WIDENED AND DEEPENED

Mersin International Port (MIP) – a joint venture between the Port of Singapore Authority and the Turkish infrastructure in-vestment holding Akfen – is an important port on the Mediterranean Sea in southern Turkey. DEME has been awarded a contract for facilitating access to the port and will execute the work with MIP. The port’s container terminal is currently being expanded. As a result the port expects to receive more and bigger ships with deeper draught. The dredging operations anticipating this increase in traffic are being carried out by cutter section dredge Amazone and trailing suction hopper dredge Uilenspiegel. Work started in November 2015 and is scheduled to last more than seven months. The approach channel will be dredged to about 17 meters (18.6 yards) the turning circle to about 16 meters (17.5 yards) and the basin to almost 16 meters (17.5 yards). All dredged material will be placed 13 kilometers (about 8 miles) offshore from the dredging site.