Van Oord Gears Up for Koper

Last year, with the completion of seabed dredging of the port’s Basin I to 14 meters, Luka Koper is now ready for the next phase of dredging that will deepen the port by an additional meter.

In August, Dutch-based contractor Van Oord will utilize its hopper dredger Dravo Costa Dorada to perform the job.

About 66,000 m³ of sea sediments will be removed from the area and pumped to a dedicated disposal site in the port’s hinterland. The project, valued at €1.7 million, is being co-financed within the NAPADRAG project by the EU’s TEN-T program. Dredging works will be also executed in the access channel to Basin I.

In charge of this project is the Slovenian Maritime Administration who had already signed a contract with Luka Koper INPO to deepen the channel to 14.7 meters but was forced to stop the works last year because of the lack of space at the disposal site.

The remaining 30 cm of silt deposited along the channel will not be removed by the good old Martin Krpan which retired this year after 45 years of service.

“Seabed dredging in southern section of Basin I is part of a larger project aimed to increase the capacity at the Container Terminal. Cargo freight has recorded the largest growth among cargo types over the recent years. Last year, Luka Koper handled over 674,000 TEUs whilst in the first quarter of 2015 the container throughput increased by 19 percent,” said Luka Koper’s Manager Board President Dragomir Matić.

“In addition, by enhancing the bearing capacity of soil in the Terminal’s hinterland we will able to stack up to seven containers and thus acquire additional areas for empty containers storage,” added Matić.

The documentation for the completion of the above mentioned project – which in addition to new storage areas also anticipates the construction of facility for the provision of container cleaning and repair services, a new rail track and a facility for the inspection of reefer containers – is currently being prepared.

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