VAN OORD MAKING NEW LAND IN TAIWAN

Since the beginning of 2016 Van Oord has been working as the main contractor on one of the largest land reclamation project ever executed in Taiwan at the Port of Kaohsiung for the Kaohsiung Intercontinental Container Center Phase II. Work is ongoing with a tight deadline of January 2018. This deadline plus very busy marine traffic and soil conditions are a few of the challenges that the port expansion project at Kaohsiung presents. 

In total the completed Phase II will add 19 new deepwater berths five of which will be designed to handle ultra large container vessels (ULCVs) up to 18000 TEU. Van Oord’s present operation will be using 37 million cubic meters (48 million cubic yards) of sand to reclaim an area of 250 hectares (618 acres). Van Oord has deployed its largest trailing suction hopper dredges including the Vox Máxima (195 meters/640 feet length overall and 29920 gross tonnage) and the Rotterdam (185 meters/606 feet length and 24496 gross tonnage).

The Port of Kaohsiung has a seafaring history going back to the 17th century. In modern times it has grown to be Taiwan’s largest port. To accommodate the growing number of export businesses the port had been expanding inland for years growing closer to the city and residential areas. This is no longer viable. The existing port and its industries are too close to the city and to expand for the future another strategy had to be developed. Consequently to achieve the next port expansion the Taiwan International Ports Corporation decided to expand offshore using land reclamation.

Van Oord’s land reclamation capabilities will provide the port with the space to develop a new state-of-the-art container terminal. An expanded Port of Kaohsiung port is key to ensuring Taiwan’s continued economic development.