The split hopper dredger"Omvac Diez" has been handed over to its owner Canlemar after successful sea trials. The dredger has been built in Spain to a Spanish design yet has been fitted out with Dutch Damen dredging gear. The vessel has started its productive life already, doing a harbour maintenance dredging job in Cadiz.

The Waterfront consortium, formed by Royal Boskalis Westminster NV (Boskalis) and the TBI companies Synchroon and Koopmans Bouwgroep, is to realise the ambitious Waterfront project of the Dutch municipality of Harderwijk. Boskalis will execute all the civil engineering and underground infrastructural work involved. Synchroon and Koopmans Bouwgroep are responsible for the commercial development of around 40 hectare area. The value of this project to Boskalis is in excess of EURO 50 million.

Yesterday, officials from Hyundai Merchant Marine, Port of Tacoma, Washington United Terminals (WUT) and several guests celebrated the completion of a USD32 million extension of the WUT wharf on the Blair Waterway. Speeches and a ceremonial ribbon-cutting marked the official opening of the new wharf. The construction project added 600 feet to the terminal's existing 2,000-foot berth to support two "super post-Panamax" container cranes the terminal added back in January 2009.

A brand new NVQ programme specifically focused on Port Operations has delivered its first batch of successful graduates, providing them with qualifications that will be recognised within the industry. 

The world leader in crane spreaders, Stockholm-based Bromma, has now won contracts for nearly 300 all-electric crane spreaders for service in automated or semi-automated terminal environments.

In October Cargotec secured two contracts worth around EUR 15 million for complete MacGregor RoRo access and transfer systems for deepsea Container/RoRo (ConRo) vessels.

The nine-month figures for Zeeland Seaports also demonstrate the positive trend in maritime throughput in the Zeeland ports this year.

Marine safety experts are encouraging UK shipping companies to include non-lethal pressurised air launchers to bridge the deterrence gap between early warning measures and using weapons in the fight against sea piracy.

On 28 October 2011 the DEME-group (Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering) launched the self-propelled cutter suction dredger, AMBIORIX, one of the most powerful and advanced cutter suction dredgers in the world.