DRAVO S.A. WINS BEACH REPLENISHMENT CONTRACTS IN SPAIN

Dravo S.A. the Spanish subsidiary of Van Oord headquartered in the Netherlands has recently been awarded a number of long-term beach maintenance contracts. Beach replenishments in Barcelona and La Pineda near Tarragona have already been completed while operations on the beach of Playa de Castillo located on one of the Canary Islands known as Fuerteventura are ongoing. 

The Canary Islands an archipelago just off the southern coast of Morocco with a favorable climate and long stretches of beaches are a major tourist attraction for Europeans seeking sun and surf. Upwards of 12 million people annually visit the Canary Islands and with their proximity to Africa they are one of the few warm European resorts year round. 

Since 1987 Dravo S.A. had been owned 50/50 by Van Oord and Dragados S.A the dredging subsidiary of ACS Actividades De Construcción Y Servicios S.A. Spain’s largest infrastructure contractor. In the spring of 2014 Van Oord acquired all shares of Dravo S.A. making it a 100 percent subsidiary of Van Oord. 
 

Dravo S.A. is headquartered in Madrid and is active in dredging works in the Spanish Portuguese and Italian markets. Among other projects Dravo S.A. has executed maintenance dredging projects in the ports of Lisbon and Aveiro in Portugal and in the ports of Huelva and Barcelona in Spain.

Replenishment works near Barcelona and Tarragona were completed earlier this year using a small trailing suction hopper dredge recently acquired by Van Oord. This new addition to their fleet has been named Costa Verde after the coast of Asturia in northern Spain. The Costa Verde with its small dimensions and shallow draft works well in the shallow waters and smaller harbors that characterize the Mediterranean Sea market. The beach replenishment and maintenance projects being carried out in Spain will make a significant contribution to both coastal defenses as well as the continued expansion of tourism.