Jan De Nul begins dredging of Nouadhibou port in Mauritania

Jan De Nul has commenced the deepening and widening of the inner port channel and turning basin of the large ore export port of Nouadhibou in Mauritania.

Jan De Nul’s large cutter suction dredger Zheng He (pictured) has been on-site since the beginning of October and will be joined by the trailing suction hopper dredger Leiv Eiriksson before the end of the month. Both vessels will evacuate about 21.6 million cubic metres of sediments and transport these to a dedicated offshore location.

The work is expected to be completed within 12 months.

With the deepening and widening of the 25-kilometre-long entrance channel to the mineral terminal of the Port of Nouadhibou, the National Industrial and Mineral Authority of Mauritania (Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière; SNIM) will open the port for vessels with a capacity of up to 250,000 tonnes.