Van Oord, DEME complete fairway deepening works in Poland

Van Oord and DEME have completed the deepening of the 65-kilometre Swinoujscie-Szczecin Fairway in Poland.

Providing access from the Baltic Sea, the fairway runs between the city of Swinoujscie and the Port of Szczecin. With approximately 24 million cubic metres of material dredged, the channel has been deepened by two metres to 12.5 metres, which enables the Port of Szczecin to handle newer, larger vessels.

Van Oord said the deepening began during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in Poland and was carried out even as the area was beset by thick winter surface ice, two heavy storms, and the presence of large quantities of unexploded ordnance (UXO). Some of the UXOs were safely detonated with the assistance of vessel crews from the Polish Navy.

The project also included the construction of two artificial islands in the lagoon. The islands were created from dredged material.

The partners also carried out shore protection works, underwater reinforcements, and installation of cables and aids to navigation.

The vessels that were deployed for the works include DEME’s cutter suction dredger Amazone, the trailing suction hopper dredgers (TSHDs) Meuse River and Scheldt River, and the Van Oord TSHDs Vox Amalia and HAM317.