Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. has been awarded contracts of more than € 100 million in the United States and in Spain.
In the United States a contract has been awarded by the Fox River Cleanup Group to desand and dewater PCB bearing river sediment of the Fox River in Wisconsin (USA). The project is worth between USD 600 and 700 million in total; Boskalis’ share of the work will account for approximately USD 120 million. The project will be completed over the next seven years.
In Spain Boskalis has acquired a contract for the expansion of the harbor of Gijón, Spain. The project will be executed in a partnership with Van Oord. The client is Autoridad Portuaria de Gijón. The contract value is approximately € 65 million, with the share of Boskalis being approximately € 35 million.
Fox River, United States The bed of the Fox River is contaminated with PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) over a distance of almost 19 miles. The project involves processing about 3 million m3 of contaminated dredged material. A large part of the clean sand extracted from the sediment will be re-used on site as well as in other local projects. Tetra Tech Inc. is the main contractor for the clean-up of the Fox River. Boskalis will process the contaminated dredged material, using a desanding and dewatering plant.
Boskalis, with his subsidiary Dolman, specializes in soil and sediment treatment, and designed and built the completely new desanding and dewatering plant for this project in just eight months. Never before has a plant of this kind been built on such a large scale and in so little time.
Gijón harbor expansion, Spain The harbor expansion in Gijón includes land reclamation for a new transshipment harbor for gas and bulk goods. A total of approximately 20 million m3 of sand will be reclaimed. The project will commence in June and will be executed in approximately ten months with medium-sized trailing suction hopper dredgers.
The Boskalis market is driven by long-term factors such as increases in the global population, the growth of the global economy and international trade volumes, developments on the energy markets, and climate change. Boskalis responds successfully to these factors with a broad geographical and operational spread and a selective contracting strategy. The Fox River project is the indirect result of economic growth in the last century and an increased environmental awareness. The market for the processing and re-use of contaminated dredged material opens up growth opportunities for Boskalis. The harbor expansion project in Gijón relates to the growth in international trade volumes.