London Gateway dredging about to get under way
Although aspects of the project are still subject to review, dredging work for the London Gateway port project is to get under way in March, according to the dredging contractor who will be responsible for the project, DEME.
A joint venture of Laing O’Rourke Infrastructure Limited and Dredging International NV (part of Belgium’s DEME Group) won the contract for the construction of the port on the river Thames in the UK in 2008, but the future of the project has under review ever since.
The client for the massive project, DP World, has decided to proceed with the construction of essential infrastructure for the planned port, even though the main civil works, including the quay wall construction and related work has been deferred.
The project is located at the former Shell Haven installation about 25 miles downstream of the City of London.
Assuming that the entire project goes ahead, the work is due to be completed in a period of 54 months from the start of dredging, that is, by end 2014.
In a statement, DEME said a ‘significant number of heavy-duty dredgers’ will be involved in the execution of the project.
The marine civils work to be undertaken includes a 1,300m quay wall and a 300m oil jetty, to be built by Laing O’Rourke with Bachy-Solétanche as subcontractor.
The dredging and reclamation works include some 29 million m3 of capital dredging in the river Thames over a distance of approximately 100km.
With preparatory work now completed, Dredging International will start dredging in March 2010. During the project, a large quantity of gravel will be dredged and commercialized, creating an interesting opportunity for DEME’s marine aggregates specialist DBM.
Other hydraulic work involving DEME specialists include the construction of bunds, slope protection work and the installation of erosion protection by means of Fibrous Open Stone Asphalt (FOSA) mattresses.
