Luxembourg-based dredging company Jan De Nul has received a contract for deepening and maintenance dredging of the 95-km access channel to the port of Guayaquil in Ecuador.
The project includes deepening of the existing access channel from 9.6 meters to a new depth, which will allow vessels to enter with 12.5-meter 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 dredge will be mobilized.
These works, expected to be finalized within the first year of the concession contract, will enable Guayaquil Port Terminals “to compete with the most modern terminals along the Pacific coast of Latin America.”
Jan De Nul will also install a Vessel Traffic Service system, a traffic control and toll collection system, and undertake dredging of the Canal Fluvial section on the Rio Guayas.
After the deepening works, Jan De Nul will operate and maintain the channel under a 25-year performance based concession contract.