Boskalis acquires €120 million contract to develop climate adaptive measures

Boskalis has acquired a contract from the Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure of the Republic of the Maldives relating to the further development, including climate adaptive measures, of Gulhifalhu.

The contract carries a value of approximately €120 million. This project concerns the second phase of the expansion of the island of Gulhifalhu.

The development of Gulhifalhu, which is located approximately four kilometres from the capital Malé, is part of the Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure’s strategic plan to improve and develop the port infrastructure, and will serve as a climate adaptive solution, making this part of the Maldives resilient to rising sea levels.

For the second phase of the island’s expansion, Boskalis will deploy a large trailing suction hopper dredger to reclaim new land using approximately 18 million cubic metres of sand. Boskalis’ activities also include rock revetment work for shoreline protection.

To manage the environmental impacts of the dredging and land reclamation activities, a comprehensive environmental impact assessment was conducted in accordance with the highest international standards. To mitigate possible adverse effects, Boskalis is implementing various measures, including coral relocation and measures to limit the spread of sediments in the water in combination with regular monitoring of the water quality.

Over the past two decades, Boskalis has successfully executed several climateadaptive dredging and land reclamation projects in the Maldives, including reconstruction work on the islands of Vilufushi and Villingili following the devastating tsunami in late 2004. In addition, Boskalis was responsible for the successful execution of the first phase of the expansion of Gulhifalhu in 2019 and 2020. n

Deltamarin and Socatra have signed a contract for a conversion basic design package for installing two Norsepower rotor sails onboard the 50,000DWT Chemical/Product tanker Alcyone.

The Medium Range chemical tanker built in 2022 will be retrofitted with two 35 x 5 metre Norsepower rotor sails. Deltamarin will carry out a full class approval design package for the conversion, including naval architectural, structural, deck outfitting, machinery and electrical works. All the necessary modifications to the existing vessel will be carried out with the aim of class approval from the selected class society.

“We are delighted to execute this project together with Socatra and Norsepower, and we look forward to seeing the vessel with installed sails in operation early next year,” said Kristian Knaapi, Sales Manager at Deltamarin. “Wind is definitely a good technology for decarbonisation in both segments, in existing ships and new builds.”

The signed contract is a good continuation of previous similar projects that Deltamarin has done for both existing ships and new constructions. The increase in decarbonisation technologies and clean technology solutions indicates a clear shift towards efficient and environmentally friendly operations, and enables progress towards emissions reduction goals, such as minimising fuel costs, enabling carbon regulatory compliance and improving IMO Carbon Intensity Indicator ratings. n