Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) recently submitted a tender to WSA Cuxhaven for the deepening of the river Elbe.
Yesterday evening, the awarding client published the commercial outcome of the tender in which Boskalis submitted the lowest price.
WSA Cuxhaven will verify the commercial and technical aspects of the tender in the coming weeks and is expected to award the contract of approximately EUR 200 million in the second half of January 2019.
The dredging activities are due to commence in February 2019.
Hamburg is Germany’s largest universal port and contains over 75 terminals, handling over 18,000 ocean-going and inland waterway ships per year. The fairway adjustment is the most important strategic development project for the port.
Dredging the Elbe River 38-mile navigation channel to the North Sea will enable Europe’s third-largest container hub to handle the ships with a maximum draft of 14.5 meters – entering the port at high tide – and vessels up to 13.5 meters regardless of the tide.
So far, the river has been deepened eight times since 1818.