Jan De Nul Group has been awarded a new concession contract for the deepening and maintenance dredging of the 95-kilometre access channel to the port of Guayaquil in Ecuador.
The project entails the deepening of the existing access channel from 9.6 metres to a new depth, which will allow vessels to enter with a 12.5-metre draught at high tide.
Three hopper dredgers and one cutter suction dredger will be in charge of the opening and maintenance works.
Jan De Nul will also remove the rock in the offshore section of the channel, the famous bottleneck known as "Los Goles," for which a large seagoing cutter suction dredger will be mobilised.
Further obligations include the installation of a modern vessel traffic service system, a traffic control and toll collection system, as well as the dredging of the "Canal Fluvial" section on the Rio Guayas.
After the deepening which Jan De Nul intends to achieve within the first year, the company will operate and maintain the channel under a 25-year performance-based concession contract.