BOSKALIS WINS EUR 120 MILLION DREDGING CONTRACT IN BRAZIL

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) won a EUR 120 million ($124.8 million US) dredging contract to expand Brazil’s Porto do Açú transshipment terminal in the city of São João da Barra in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The deal was awarded by Açu Petróleo a joint venture (JV) between Brazil’s logistics company Prumo and Oiltanking Gmbh. According to Boskalis the project comprises the deepening widening and extension of the access channel and turning basin. Boskalis estimated a total 32 million cubic meters (41.9 million cubic yards) of sand silt and clay should be extracted as the activities began in late November last year and should be completed late this year. One jumbo and two large trailing suction hopper dredges (TSHD) will be used by Boskalis it said adding the terminal’s access channel has a 20.5-meter (67.3-foot) depth which is “suitable to receive Suezmax type vessels.” By the end of this year the 20.5-meter depth should be deepened to 24.5 meters (about 80 feet) allowing the terminal to receive Very Large Crude Carriers. Boskalis developed be-tween 2011 and 2015 most of the Açú Port including the construction of two access channels a turning basin an inner channel mooring berths as well as 2.4 kilometers (about 1.5 miles) of revetments for the inner harbor’s protection.