A joint venture of BAM Nuttall (Surrey, UK) and Van Oord (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) has now been awarded a £75 million contract by Peel Ports, the owner of Liverpool2, to design and build the 854m quay wall, infill works and crane rails.
Goliath, which is one of the largest backhoe dredgers in the world, will be used on the project, which will see 315,000 cubic metres of clay dredged from the River Mersey.
The Liverpool2 container terminal development will allow post Panamax container ships of up to 13,500 TEU to dock in the North West of the UK, serving a population of 35 million people living within a radius of 150 miles.
“The BAM Nuttall / Van Oord joint venture brings together high levels of expertise to deliver this complex project,” Douglas Coleman, Programme Director, Peel Ports, said.
“The JV secured the package of work against intense competition, and this contract award represents a significant milestone for the Liverpool2 project, as well as sending a clear message that Liverpool2 will be open for business to receive post Panamax size vessels from 2015.”
Dredging began in June, and three trailer suction dredgers have already removed 75,000 cubic metres of alluvial silts from the site. A second phase saw a water injection dredger displace a further 180,000 cubic metres of silts.
Backhoe dredger Goliath will start work in September to excavate and remove a further 315,000 cubic metres of clay to the sea. Finally, the Artemis cutter suction dredger will remove 588,000 cubic metres of underlying rock, sand and gravels for reuse in the infill operations behind the quay wall.
Piling operations will begin on September 10, with rock drilling to provide the sockets for the 47-tonne, 40-metre long steel piles. More than 19,000 tonnes of steelwork and 30,000 tonnes of concrete will be required for the construction of the quay wall alone.
BAM Nuttall will design and construct the 854m quay wall and install rails capable of carrying eight ship-to-shore cranes and 27 automated cantilevered rail-mounted gantry cranes.
Vertical drains to consolidate the water-saturated subsoil and increase soil stability will be installed by Wicks (Gorinchem, The Netherlands), a Van Oord subsidiary.
“We are delighted to have won this prestigious contract and look forward to delivering this vital piece of infrastructure, which will assist in transforming the Port of Liverpool,” Ian Dalgleish, operations director, BAM Nuttall, said.
“The consortium’s wide variety of expertise guarantees an economic answer to the UK’s growing need for container capacity,” Van Oord UK managing director Maurits den Broeder added.
The Port of Liverpool carries more than 33m tonnes of cargo annually, and is the UK’s leading west coast port.
“Liverpool2 will allow post Panamax ships from Asia, the Middle East and the Americas to dock in the North West of the UK and use feeder services to access Ireland, opening up a new market estimated at four million TEU every year,” Dennis Henderson, Commercial Director, Peel Ports, said.