Van Oord has reached a major achievement in environmentally responsible maritime infrastructure development with the formal delivery and handover of the first coral engine in the Bahamas.
On 28 August, in the presence of 150 invitees including Mr. Bannister, Minister of Works, the maintenance of the coral engine was handed over to local partners Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas, Bahamas Reef Environment Education Foundation and Royal Bahamas Defence Force.
They will maintain the nursery and encourage conservation groups, schools, members of the public and tourists to visit the site and become actively involved with its continued development and the subsequent outplacement activities.
In 2014, the government of the Bahamas, Van Oord and Damen Shipyards signed an agreement for a rigorous upgrade of the naval bases on three islands and the delivery of a fleet of new patrol vessels.
“ Our scope in the Sandy Bottom project includes dredging, constructing several breakwaters and quay walls and corresponding civil engineering works ,” said Van Oord’s Area Director Mark Roelofs.
“ The work is spread out over sites up to 700 km apart. We expect to finish the construction works by the end of September this year. When working in vulnerable areas like this, we take into account the interests of the environment and our stakeholders. Van Oord’s delivery of the coral engine and associated deployment of the ReefGuard are good examples of this. This also proves the outstanding engineering capabilities of our colleagues involved and are showcases of our Marine ingenuity ,” added Mark Roelofs.