EXCLUSIVE: Jan De Nul CSD Fernão De Magalhães busy at Oosterweel project

The TM COTU team (DEME Group, Besix, Jan De Nul Group and Stadsbader Contractors, for their client Lantis) has taken the next essential step in the realization of the Scheldt Tunnel project, part of the Oosterweel link: the dredging of the trench in which the tunnel elements will soon be immersed.

“We are currently carrying out this precision job with our cutter suction dredger Fernão De Magalhães,” added Bart Praet, Area Manager Dredging Works Benelux, Jan De Nul Group.

“What we do here is really our core business: carrying out complex, large-scale dredging works with knowledge, precision and cooperation.”

At the moment, the first tunnel element of the Scheldt Tunnel is floating up in the construction dock in Zeebrugge, Belgium.

“Since mid-April, all eight tunnel elements have been lying underwater, held down by five ballast tanks each. Now, the tanks of the first element are being pumped out, allowing it to rise carefully to the surface,” DEME said earlier this week.

According to the current schedule, the first tunnel element will depart on May 19th for a 100 km journey via the North Sea and the Scheldt to Antwerp.