The Comision Administradora del Rio de la Plata (CARP) has awarded a five-year contract for capital and maintenance dredging of the Martín García channel between Uruguay and Argentina.
Focusing on the northern part of the 50-kilometre-wide Rio de la Plata estuary, the EUR110.0 million (US$129.7 million) contract has been awarded to the Royal Boskalis Westminster (Boskalis) and DEME joint venture.
The Martín García channel is the main access channel to Uruguay's second largest port, Nueva Palmira and the Rio Uruguay.
The main objective of the dredging program is to deepen the channel and maintain a depth of 10.3 metres over the contract period.
The capital dredging work will be undertaken in 2018, when six million cubic metres of sand and silt will be removed with two trailing suction hopper dredgers (TSHD). About 500,000 cubic metres of clay and rock with a large backhoe will also be removed.
The maintenance contract requires the annual removal of five million cubic metres of mainly sand and silt with a TSHD.
