Jan De Nul Group awarded dredging project in Iraq
The Belgian Jan De Nul Group has signed a contract for the deepening of Umm Qasr Port in the southernmost tip of Iraq, near the border with Kuwait. The port is Iraq’s gateway to the Arabian Gulf and a lifeline for import of mixed cargo and bulk goods. Over the years the port has slowly silted up.
Jan De Nul’s contract will see the company deepen the port to -12.5m in works valued at €52m which will take eight months to complete. The company will deploy one small and one medium sized trailing hopper dredger to carry out the work.
The client is the General Company for Ports of Iraq (GCPI). Jan De Nul said the signing of the contract was the result of months of negotiations, saying, ‘Extreme attention has been given to the safety of crew, staff and vessels.’
Jan De Nul Group has also recently been awarded a contract for the reclamation of the ‘Lido Boulevard’ in Malaysia. The works consist of the reclamation of 50 hectares of land in Johor Bahru for residential purposes. In total 6.5 million m³ of material has to be reclaimed in a period of 15 months. The contract will be executed using the mega-trailing suction hopper dredger Vasco da Gama and is worth €50m.
