Italy: Belgian-led team wins contract for largest dredging project

Rome: A consortium headed by Belgian dredging firm Deme has won a contract worth between €150m and €300m to improve access and add sea defences to the Port of Livorno.

The work will form the first phase of the Europa Platform project. This is aimed at the construction of the 17m-deep Europa Dock, which will form a gateway to the province of Tuscany.

Deme will remove some 16 million cubic metres of silt, build two breakwaters and relocate a third. Part of the materials dredged will be used for beach nourishment works along the Pisan coast.

It is working on the scheme with its subsidiary Sidra and three Italian partners: Sales, Fincantieri Opere Marittime and Fincosit.

Jan Vandenbroeck, Sidra’s general manager, said: “We are delighted to have won this fantastic project as one team. Deme’s marine engineering expertise is combined with the specialist knowledge of Sales, Fincantieri Opere Marittime and Fincosit.

“We are all deploying our own dedicated equipment and offering smart solutions to perform these works. We are very much looking forward to starting to create the ‘Piattaforma Europa’ and contributing to this enormous project, which is so important for the economic development of the Port of Livorno and indeed, for the whole region.” Work on the project will begin in 2023.