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'Pearl River' Heads Marseilles Expansion
16 Dec 2007
Dredging is underway in the first phase of construction work on the Port of Marseilles Authority’s Fos 2XL container terminal project. Due in service by 2010, two new terminals are being developed in partnership with private operators Port Synergy and MSC, increasing annual capacity at Fos from 600,000 to 2.1m teu. The dredging operation is part of a two year contract that also involves the construction of 1,200m of quay
Under main contractor GTM Genie Civil et Services, the dredging is being carried out by Dredging International of Belgium and its French affiliate SDI. The work will take the water depth alongside the existing 1970 built terminal from 12m to 17m with the extraction of some 6m m3 of dredged material.
The initial six weeks of dredging is being handled by Pearl River, once the world’s largest trailing suction hopper dredger, with its original capacity of 17,000m3 now extended by lengthening to 24,000m3.
Extensive pre-dredging studies established that the dredged material is not contaminated so most of it will be discharged at sea. The current-friendly dispersal zone is 15km from the terminal, toward the edge of the Fos Gulf, and offers depths of 50 to 70m. Monitoring devices to measure solids suspension levels have been placed in key gulf locations.
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