Deepening of the Guayaquil access channel, Ecuador
In late 2018, we began dredging operations in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to prepare the port for larger container vessels. Our primary task was to deepen the 95-kilometer-long access channel to a depth of 12.5 meters. Additionally, we dredged the Guayas River, located approximately 85 kilometres southwest of Guayaquil, to a depth of 7.5 meters.
We completed the dredging works within a year, but our responsibilities didn’t end there. Under a concession agreement with the Municipality of Guayaquil, we deepened the channels, committed to maintaining their depth for the next 25 years, and financed the entire project. In the coming years, we will recover costs through toll revenue.
Jan Neckebroeck, Area Manager South America:
We are proud to be part of this contract, giving Guayaquil Port Terminals the boost to compete with the most modern terminals in neighbouring countries, offering competitive logistic solutions to the benefit of the Ecuadorian economy and its population.
Guayaquil in numbers
Did you know?
Dredging concessions are one of the financing options and contract types we offer our clients. Broadly speaking, a dredging concession comes down to making and keeping a canal or river navigable. We do the first by deepening the waterway, and the second by keeping a vessel there for long-term maintenance works. Sometimes, like in Ecuador, we take on the financing. The costs for deepening the waterway and maintaining its depth are then repaid with toll fees. Each vessel passing through the waterway; for instance, has to pay an amount that depends on the size of the vessel.
On this project, we also removed rocks in the offshore section of the Guayaquil access channel, the famous bottleneck known as ‘Los Goles’.
We installed a modern Vessel Traffic Service system and toll collection system to implement the concession agreement.
