DREDGING OPERATIONS
PRESS THE REFRESH BUTTON Dredging contractors continue to broaden their approach to securing new contracts alongside the sector introducing dredger designs that match the latest requirements. AJ Keyes reviews the premier developments
8 The new longterm concession for dredging the Parana River system is up for grabs
The international market for dredging projects remains active, although highly competitive, with some interesting projects. Further, the dredging services supply sector continues to be inventive in how to secure these projects. One major project up for grabs, with award by the Argentina General Port Administration Agency (AGP), is the dredging of the Parana River which encompasses 86 ports and is the ‘highway’ via which around 80 per cent of Argentina’s agricultural exports are moved. Efficient dredging in this waterway has become even more critical than usual in recent times due to the presence of historically low water levels in the river. The Parana River has traditionally been dredged by a specialist dredging contractor, operating under the auspices of a long-term concession, with the contractor paid via means of tolls applied to transiting vessels. The length of the new concession envisaged is 15-years with this preceded by a tender for a 180-day operation, required while the details of the longer concession are worked out. Local reports suggest that the 180-day contract will be awarded this month – March 2022 – and that parties expressing strong interest in the multi-year concession include: Jan de Nul; Boskalis, Dredging International in joint venture with CCCC Shanghai Dredging and Rhode Nielsen-Emepa. There is, however, some doubt as to whether Emepa, who formerly worked with Jan de Nul, will be allowed to qualify for the project. Jan de Nul and Emepa, in joint venture in the company Hidrovia, originally held the Parana River concession from 1995 onwards. Along the way, with Emepa, an Argentine company, accused of corruption, the two organisations parted company and via various extensions Jan de Nul has continued with the dredging remit for the Parana River and River Plate. This arrangement will expire with the award first of the shortterm contract and second the long-term concession. Industry participants express some doubt, however, that the longer concession will be awarded this year with some suggesting the award may end up taking place in 2023.
The project is large-scale and it will be very interesting to see how the long-term concession award pans out. It is definitely a major opportunity that will be pursued vigorously by the interested parties and as such one that is definitely ‘watch this space’ material. Another noteworthy development in the market is the recently announced alliance between The Dredging Corporation of India Ltd. (DCI) AND Abu Dhabi’s National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC). The two companies have announced that they will bid jointly for projects using each other’s resources, equipment and know-how in the Indian sub-continent, Africa, Middle East and Far East regions. Interestingly, the nature of this alliance is broad-based, accommodating dredging projects but also extending into project development with build-operate-transfer (BOT) schemes, operation of ports, PPP-based dredging works, port development and multi-modal transportation activities. Project execution, the two companies report, will be either through a joint venture or as a consortium on a project-toproject basis. DCI, India’s biggest dredging contractor, is owned by four government-owned major ports – Deendayal Port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Visakhapatnam Port and Paradip Port. NMDC is supported by the Government of Abu Dhabi. In terms of dredger fleets, the two companies complement each other with NMDC strong on cutter suction dredgers and DCI possessing a large fleet of trailing suction hopper dredgers. The alliance represents a strong push to secure overseas projects with a broad-based remit in terms of project types. This latter reality may prove particularly interesting in the Indian market with the Indian Government in mid-2021 approving new norms for the award of dredging works at State-run-ports which include – for the first time – the idea of awarding major dredging works based on a PPP arrangement. Equally, it enables the four shareholder ports controlling DCI to finalise their respective dredging contracts with the company without the requirement for a public tender.
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