Over 42 months it is now hoped to build about 1,000m of the planned 1,700m of quays and accompanying free stand areas, rail and road links. It will be 'a race against time' said JadeWeser Port official Helmut Werner. In service to help tackle the initial dredging, is the most modern and efficient cutter suction dredger ever built in Germany. Pirat 10 has cost Bunte €20m and MD Manfred Wendt said it was 'a pioneering achievement and a technological quantum leap' for the firm.

The 7000 kW unit, boasting three pumps, can scoop up 12,000 m3 of water and sand per hour at 50m depths. Wendt said the 104m long and 16.8m wide unit would make light work of the JWP project, which involves the dredging of about 40 million m3 of material which will be fed through 4 km of dredge pipes for backfill use.

Three specialist workboats have also been contracted long term from Acta Marine Waterweg to support the Jade reclamation and port construction works. They include the 22m x 9m newbuild multicats Coastal Hunter and Coastal Warrior, with 1,215hp outputs and 140 t/m deck cranes.

The new port will handle 2.7m TEU and give Germany its own deepwater terminal for mega-boxships to rival Rotterdam.

By Tom Todd