Dredging projects that changed the world – New Suez Canal

One of the biggest dredging projects of the current century, the New Suez Canal was, according to experts, a titanic effort in operations, planning and production to complete within the one year deadline. Opened in 1869 after 10 years of construction, the Suez Canal was one of the greatest maritime projects of the time. It was only wide enough for one-way traffic, and transiting ships would stop in a passing bay to allow the passage of ships in the other direction.

Almost 150 years later, the need for increased capacity had become clear to the Government of Egypt. In 2014, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) unveiled a plan to expand the canal and build a new lane that would allow the transit of ships in two directions.

Soon after financing was completed and tenders offered, contracts were signed by the SCA with two consortia.

The Challenge Consortium (the Consortium) comprised of National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC) from Abu Dhabi; Dutch dredging companies, Royal Boskalis Westminster (Boskalis) and Van Oord; and Jan De Nul NV (subsidiary of Jan De Nul Group) from Belgium. The total contract value amounted to US$1.5 billion that was divided amongst the four partners.

The second consortium, Dredging International NV (an operating company of DEME Group) from Belgium and Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company (GLDD) from USA received the assignment to deepen and widen the western branch of the Suez Canal, worth US$540 million.

One essential prerequisite of the contracts was that the project be completed in a year, an extremely short deadline for the amount of work. Therefore, due to the sheer size of the project, the work was divided into six lots to be carried out from 51.4 – 122.4km of the length of the canal. The SCA and the two consortia carried out the works in the various lots. The SCA did the work on Lot 1. The Consortium carried out the works on Lots 2 to 5 (from 58.2 – 92.6km).

The final Lot 6 was completed by the consortium of Dredging International (DI) and GLDD.

The second Suez Canal is about 150 meters wide and 24 meters deep and required a total of 250 million m³ of material to be dredged. The consortium in which Jan De Nul Group participated dredged 200 million m³ of that total amount. Jan De Nul Group deployed seven cutter suction dredgers for this project: J.F.J. De Nul, Hondius, Kaerius, Fernão de Magalhães, Ibn Battuta, Leonardo de Vinci and Zheng He.

The canal expansion was completed as planned on August 6, 2015, in time for the inauguration.

The successful completion of the New Suez Canal Project within a year by the two consortia was a testament to their logistical and operational achievements in terms of coordinating the sheer number of equipment, staff and crew as well as handling various logistical and operational challenges.

As the original Suez Canal became a historical achievement, so too will the New Suez Canal – it will serve as an iconic project for the dredging industry for decades to come.