Venezuela Hires Chinese Company to Dredge Orinoco River

The Venezuelan Instituto Nacional de Canalizaciones, INCANAL, has contracted China Communications Construction Company, Ltd. (CCCC) to dredge the navigation channel of the local Orinoco River, the nation’s government said in mid-February. The project aims to keep the Matanzas-Boca Grande section of the river navigable, INCANAL’s president, Jose Angel Simoza Liendo, said. Under the terms of the deal, CCCC will perform maintenance dredging in specific sections of the river. CCCC will use trailing suction hopper dredge Xin Hai Ma and hopper dredge Hang Jun 5001, which are expected to remove about 5 million cubic meters (about 6.5 cubic yards) of sand by June.