The Port of Klaipeda, Lithuania has recently issued a tender for the “purchase and assembling of a reserve radio-location station for vessel traffic management purposes”.

This new service not only shows that the port of Le Havre is able to attract new customers such as the Chilean shipping line [CCNI] but also strengthens the direct shipping supply provided between Le Havre and the Californian ports [Long Beach, Oakland, Los Angeles]. The M/V Gluecksburg operated by the German shipping line calls at Le Havre within the framework of their joint trans-Atlantic service. In the final stage, 10 vessels, including 8 for Hamburg Süd and 2 for CCNI, will be operational on this round voyage. The vessels put on this route have a capacity of about 1,700 TEU including around 200 reefer containers.

In December 2009, the USD268 million contract for the final phase of work on the Pacific Access Channel was awarded to an international consortium comprising Spain’s Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, SA (FCC), Mexico’s Empresas ICA and Costa Rica’s Constructora MECO. The consortium subcontracted the cofferdam work to a joint venture of Richard Goettle Inc, USA, and Ingenieria Continental, SA (ICONSA), Panama. The cofferdam is 1,336 m long; an additional 462m consists of a sheet-pile cut-off wall. The 15,000 tonnes of sheet piling – supplied by LB Foster Inc., Pittsburgh – were purchased in advance by the Panama Canal Authority. Twenty-four of the cells measure 21.64m in diameter, and 34 are 17.83m in diameter. Each of the 58 cells is built using a large circular template, surrounded by the sheet piling and welded. Crews dredge silt inside the cells and place underwater tremie concrete where necessary. Then, cells are filled with granular backfill. The entire cofferdam requires a total of 250,000 cu m of aggregate. To keep the project on schedule, the consortium is using three marine and two land crews; a sixth crew has completed the sheet piling. If the cofferdam is completed on schedule, ACP engineers aim to begin work on the Borinquen Dam this fall. That effort is scheduled to be completed in March 2013.

Danish-dredging contractor Rohde Nielsen has been awarded a USD 378.000 contract for maintenance dredging in Klaipeda State Seaport, Lithuania.