Jan De Nul will dredge Access Channel to Guayaquil Port

Jan De Nul Group is awarded a new concession contract in South America: deepening and maintenance dredging of the 95-km access channel to the port of Guayaquil in Ecuador. These works will enable Guayaquil Port Terminals to compete with the most modern terminals along the Pacific coast of Latin America, offering competitive logistic solutions to the benefit of the Ecuadorian economy and its population.

The project entails the 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 (Ibn Battuta type) will be mobilized.

Further obligations include the installation of a state of the art 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 Group intends to achieve within the first year, the company will operate and maintain the channel under a 25-year performance based concession contract. The deepening and maintenance of the system will be financed by Jan De Nul Group and recuperated by tolls.