Update of Van Oord’s recent work – by David Foxwell
Dutch dredging contractor Van Oord provided an update on recent projects in the Americas, the Mediterranean and Africa with its most recent financial results.
‘Brazil has been our home base in South America for 25 years, said the company. ‘We have a permanent branch office in Rio de Janeiro and deploy our own equipment sailing under the Brazilian flag on projects in Brazil, in particular port projects in such places as Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Itajai, São Luis and Suape.’ The Brazilian market for marine contracting consists mainly of port and waterway maintenance.
‘In Mexico, we were involved in the beach replenishment project in Cancun, important for the area’s tourism industry. For the past several years, we have been carrying out regular maintenance in Venezuela’s Orinoco River and the shipping lane in Lake Maracaibo.’
‘Spain is an important base in the region and our main activities there consist of port expansion and maintenance and beach maintenance. We have a joint venture in Spain with Dragados, one of Europe’s biggest contractors, which operates under the name Dravo SA. This company has its own dredging equipment. Spain is also our base for projects in Portugal and Italy.’
‘Van Oord has been active non-stop in Nigeria since 1963. At the moment, our most important projects there involve work for the oil and gas industry, land reclamation, and maintenance to ensure the navigability of waterways. Our biggest and most significant project in 2009 involved deepening the River Niger.’
‘In Tunisia, we undertook maintenance work for the ports of La Goulette, Sfax and Radès.’
