DEME wins the biggest dredging project in Italy

DEME and its joint venture partners have secured a major dredging and coastal defence contract in the Italian Port of Livorno.

This substantial contract (“substantial” refers to a contract with a value of EUR 150-300 million) has been awarded to the joint venture including SIDRA, the Italian company of the DEME Group.

Believed to be the biggest dredging project in the country, this award relates to the first phase of the Piattaforma Europa (Europa Platform) project with the construction of Darsena Europa (Europa Dock), a large port expansion and considered the new Tuscan gateway.

The project will eventually encompass 3 km of docks, two large terminals and 2 million m² of new port areas.

DEME’s scope represents approximately 16 million m³ of dredging volumes and additionally, the joint venture is responsible for the construction of two new breakwaters (Diga Nord and Diga Sud) and the relocation of the Meloria breakwater (in total 6 km of breakwater construction).

The dredging operations, starting in 2023, are designed to provide the foundations for the new breakwaters, and to deepen the access channel to -17 m and the internal basins and docks to -16 m.

A sizeable part of the dredged materials will be used for beach nourishment works along the Pisan coast, highlighting DEME’s focus on the circular economy. The remaining materials will be deposited inside the newly created basin, creating a foundation for a future platform.

DEME will deploy several cutter suction dredgers and a trailing suction hopper dredger for the project.