Expertise in global demand

The Netherlands is home to some of the largest dredging and marine contractors worldwide, and they are the global leaders in the field. The lucrative export industry evolved out of necessity for a country that is prone to flooding. Literally meaning ‘low-lying lands', the country's inhabitants quickly learnt to tame the water, explains Arnoud Kuis, Area Manager, Van Oord. “The Dutch, by living on a piece of land which the sea would eventually flood by more than half if the maintenance of dams and dikes were neglected, rose to become natural leaders in dredging and land reclamation technology.”

While dredging is often associated with some of the high-profile projects that Dubai is well-known for, companies such as Van Oord and Boskalis are involved in everything from dredging ports and waterways, land reclamation for residential, tourist or industrial infrastructure, coastal protection and marine related activities for the oil and gas industry.

It is because of the range of services that dredging offers, the companies' expertise is in demand all over the globe. Although Kuis says that since Van Oord launched in the 1800s,there is usually one area that is given  a particularly heavy focus.

“From a geographical perspective, the centre of gravity associated with dredging activities has shifted over the world from originally being in Europe to Saudi Arabia in the 1970s, to Hong Kong in the late 80s, early 90s to Singapore and Malaysia in the late 90s, early 2000, and back to the Middle East in more recent years,” says Kuis. “As a result of the global financial downturn our industry's business is nowadays more evenly spread and uniform across the globe.”

Land reclamation
Land reclamation is still big business in the Middle East, and it goes back a lot further than The World or Jumeirah Palm, says K.A. Vakanas, Director and General Manager of Boskalis Westminster Middle East. “Boskalis has been involved with the Middle East since the early 60s, with dredging work in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. In the 70s the company was involved with large dredging projects in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, followed in the 80s and 90s with projects in the Arabian Gulf coastline as well as in the Red Sea,” he says.

“In the last ten years the company maintained an active role in all the activities in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Iran and Oman and the UAE,” says Vakanas.
The focus on the Middle East was due to huge reclamation projects, including Palm Jumeirah, on which Van Oord worked. “I still feel that Palm Jumeirah is an exceptional project, because it was the first of its kind,” says Kuis. “It was difficult for us to grasp that somebody wanted to have a large artificial island built in the shape of a palm tree. In addition it was hard for us to understand why somebody wanted to create new land in the sea when the existing land area of Dubai is extensive.

“When you visit the Palm, you should stop and think about it; less than ten years ago this was water and now it is a thriving community and one of the world's infrastructural icons.”

Balancing the eco-system
But what about the environmental implications of such huge projects? Kuis says that an impact is inevitable, though every effort is taken to make sure it is minimal. “As with other forms of construction, dredging has an impact on the environment.” However, both Kuis and Vakanas point out that Van Oord and Boskalis are both certified with the International Environmental Quality Standard, ISO 14001, as well as various
other health and safety certifications. These strict guidelines and regularly updated legislation indicate the standards dredging companies must comply with, and so becomes a day-to-day consideration.

Environment protection
“The environmental issues form an important aspect of any project. One which we are working on lies only three kilometres away from one of the most interesting and live coral reefs in the Arabian Gulf,” says Vakanas.“Extensive measures have been taken to secure this treasure and the contractors take all efforts to do the project with no interference, damage or disturbance to this magnificent underwater treasure. Monitoring stations have been set up in the perimeter of the area with set alarms to stop the operations if necessary. A recent independent survey has proven that to date, no disturbance of the reef has been noted,” says Vakanas.

Companies are diligent in their commitment to protecting the environment whilst undertaking some of the biggest dredging projects across the globe. “Dredging may be executed as a means to avoid natural disasters such as floods, and thus helps to protect the environment in which we live too,” says Kuis, proving that dredging is benefiting our environment too.

“Another manner in which dredging is used to enhance the quality of the world we live in is by removing polluted soils and subsequently storing them in a controlled manner.”