July/August 2017 – DR/Int
IADC WEBINAR ON THE INSURANCE ACT-DUTY OF FAIR PRESENTATION OF RISK
Despite its title this latest webinar from the International Association of Dredging Companies (IADC) is not just for insurance and legal experts. On the contrary it is aimed at all people involved in tendering project engineering fleet operations and equipment management and SHE-Q. According to its presenter Andre Meijer everyone involved in a project from start to finish should be aware of the risks and report them to the appropriate managers in the company. They in turn should be sure that the insurer is aware and that risks are covered.
Meijer is a specialist in marine insurance and specifically for MUNIS an insurer for the major European dredging companies and was asked by IADC to explain the new legal environment to a wider audience. He started his talk by emphasizing the consequences of risk and followed by describing the consequences when a contractor breaches the “law of fair presentation.”
His simple question “Why do companies buy insurance” gets to the heart of the matter. Maritime projects involve a great many risks which can have serious financial implications. Contract law is based on English law and includes all insurance policies for fleets projects and liability. This law stems from the Insurance Act of 1906 a time when England ruled the waves. In 2015 the law was replaced and updated by the Insurance Act-Duty of Fair Presentation of Risk. This new law is a wake-up call for the industry.
In a clear 30-minute presentation Meijer gave a practical rundown on risk awareness and management breaching of the fair presentation law and the financial impacts – which can be severe – if a company is underinsured. He emphasized that “fair presentation” means that contractors should be sharing all available information with the insurance company not just at the start of a project but throughout. Everyone’s level of risk awareness should be raised to avoid suffering the consequences of breach of the law.
A question and answer session follows Meijer’s presentation. A video of the webinar can be found at https://www.onlineseminar.nl/iadc/ webinar/9e6db2a3-1be4-493f-a3c6-e8629453f13e/ insurance-act-2015/#watch.
PORT OF RIGA LATVIA CONTINUES DREDGING OPERATIONS
In early June the Freeport of Riga Authority announced that it was accepting bids for dredging in the Port of Riga during the years 2017- 2019. The Port of Riga is located on both banks at the mouth of the River Daugava. The deadline for these bids was June 29. According to the port dredging works should be carried out by a trailing suction hopper dredge. In 2014 DEME through its affiliate Dredging International NV (Latvian Branch) conducted capital dredging and rainbowing with a trailer to deepen the existing access channel at the port. These dredging works increased the accessibility of the port for larger vessels.
The proposed dredging works will continue this expansion allowing much larger vessels with a variety of cargoes to have access to the port. The total value of the dredging contract is 18 million euros ($20.5 million).
ROHDE NIELSEN DREDGING AT AUSTRALIA’S GOLD COAST
The Gold Coast is located on Australia’s east coast from the border of New South Wales almost up to Brisbane. Its sunny climate and clean beaches and waters have made it one of the coast’s premier tourist destinations with millions of Australians and foreign tourists going there for their annual vacations. Its most popular areas include Surfers Paradise Broadbeach Main Beach Sanctuary Cove Coolangatta and Burleigh Heads.
On June 14 the mayor of Gold Coast announced that a Danish dredge was hired to place millions of tons of sand off these famous Gold Coast beaches. The hope is that this sand replenishment will last for 15 years.
This extensive offshore dredging program will be executed by Rohde Nielsen’s a 111-meter (364 foot) long and a slender 20 meters (65 foot) wide Balder R a split hopper suction trailing dredge. The vessel has started dredging sand from the nearby sea and pumping it toward the vulnerable beaches. In total she will dredge 3 million cubic meters (almost 4 million cubic yards) of sand from deep water offshore sand supply areas and relocate it to around the wave-break zone. The sand will be placed either by rainbowing or by dropping sand from the split hull bottom of the Balder R.
Dredging started in mid-June and will run for 16 weeks with the crew working 24/7. This Beach Nourishing Project is an AUS$13.9 million (US$10.9 million) investment that will increase the amount of sand on these open beaches which are threatened by erosion caused by the wild surf and cyclones.
JOINT VENTURE VAN DEN HERIK-BOSKALIS WIDENS AND DEEPENS TWENTE CANAL NETHERLANDS
The Dutch waterways agency Rijkswaterstaat has indicated its intention to award the project “Expansion of the Twente Canal Phase 2” to the joint venture Van den Herik – Boskalis Nederland. The joint venture would be responsible for making the main branch and side branch of the canal accessible for larger ships. It would also execute maintenance work that had previously been postponed. The “Twentekanaal” is a canal running through the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Overijssel connecting the three largest cities of the Twente region Almelo Hengelo and Enschede to the national network of rivers and canals. Its total length is 65 kilometers (40 miles).
The project to deepen and widen the side branch at the beginning of the canal aims to give a strong boost to the regional economy. With an expanded Twente Canal harbors and companies in the surrounding area such as the container terminal in Hengelo and the industrial area of Almelo will be accessible by larger vessels. Better water transportation which is cleaner than road transport will have a positive effect on reducing the number of trucks on the road and make water transport more cost-effective.
DREDGING FOR HANHIKIVI PROJECT IN FINLAND RESUMES AFTER WINTER BREAK
At the end of May the Finnish company Fennovoima reported that dredging and water construction work on the coast of Hanhikivi headland resumed after the long winter break. The Hanhikivi 1 (FH1) Project is a nuclear power plant being built by Fennovoima to produce electricity for its owners at production cost price. The plant will be built in Pyhäjoki in Northern Finland. Fennovoima and RAOS Project subsidiary of Rusatom Energy International have a plant supply contract for the Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant. According to the schedule agreed with Rosatom Hanhikivi 1 plant will produce electricity in 2024. The plant site on the coastal municipality of Pyhäjoki is located in Northern Ostrobothnia on the shore of the Baltic Sea. The name of the plant comes from Hanhikivi peninsula where the site is located.
The dredging work was contracted by Titan-2 which is the main contractor of the plant supplier RAOS Project and is being carried out by Terramare Oy a subsidiary of Royal Boskalis Westminster. Included in the work is the dredging and water construction work in the harbor the cooling water intake channel and the standby cooling water intake channel. Terramare Oy has extensive experience and know-how in harbor and marine construction and is specialized in different types of dredging services such as underwater drilling and blasting port construction and various dredging methods in different soil types.
According to Terramare dredging operations will take place 24/7 during the allowable open water period. In deference to the fish spawning season blasting work can only be conducted from May 20 to October 10. Some 690000 cubic meters (more than 900000 cubic yards) of dredged material will be removed from the seabed and underwater blasting of about 200000 cubic meters (262000 cubic yards) of rock will be executed. This dredged material will be transported to the marine placement area about 10 kilometers (just more than 6 miles) west of the Hanhikivi headland.
The dredging and hydraulic engineering will cause water turbidity and noise in its immediate vicinity. The noise caused by the water construction works will drive away fish making fishing in the immediate vicinity of the areas under construction impossible. The construction activities in the sea area especially the explosive noise caused by blasting may also drive away fish from a larger area. Turbidity and noise levels will be continuously measured.
The rest of the construction of the infrastructure and auxiliary buildings also continues at the Hanhikivi 1 plant site. Roads and the first buildings of the accommodation village are being constructed.
