Capital dredging vessel gains for Bangladeshi port

The works at the third seaport of Bangladesh were completed under engineering consultant supervision led by CDR International.

“We are proud to have contributed to the future prosperity of Bangladesh, by executing the visionary approach of the Bangladesh Government to develop an untouched region of the country, by enabling a green field port economy,” said Jan Moens, project director at Jan De Nul Group.

”Working with our team to create the third and deepest draught port of Bangladesh has been a fantastic journey.”

Multiple vessels

The capital dredging phase started after the monsoon season of 2022 and was completed well ahead of the monsoon season of 2023.

During the past months, a significant part of the Jan De Nul dredging fleet has contributed to create the maritime access to Payra Port. Due to the limitations set by the yearly monsoon period, the project was time sensitive.

Two cutter suction dredgers, JFJ De Nul and Ibn Battuta, were deployed alongside five trailing suction hopper dredgers and one water injection dredger, to dredge over 50 million m³ of soil in record time.

Jan De Nul will perform the maintenance dredging of the port in the next phase of the project. Three trailing suction hopper dredgers will be deployed to the Rabnabad Channel of Payra Port to fulfil the dredging requirements of the coming years.

The Payra Port has only been open for a few years, pushing import and export opportunities for Bangladesh sharply upwards.

Payra was created as an additional seaport to Mongla port in the west and Chittagong port in the east because both ports were already at their maximum capacity.