Van Oord has been awarded the contract for the construction of the fourth container terminal in Bremerhaven, Germany. The client is the Container Terminal IV JV. The total value of the contract amounts to some EUR 85 million. The project will start mid June 2004 and is scheduled for completion in December 2008.

The activities involve the dredging of an excavation, deepening of the berth and reclamation of a harbour area. Some 600,000 cubic metres of clay will be removed for the construction of the terminal over a length of 1,670 metres. The excavation will be refilled with some 1.1 million cubic metres of sand. The berth will be deepened to -17.5 CD metres. Approximately 1 million cubic metres of sand and clay need to be removed. The reclamation of the area involves some 9 million cubic metres of sand. Trailing suction hopper dredgers will dredge the sand from the rivers Jade and Weser.

 Van Oord will deploy trailing suction hopper dredgers Geopotes 15 and HAM 311. HAM 311 will be equipped with a rainbow installation on the side, to enable the ship to discharge sand in strong currents. In addition, a specialist water injection dredger, a bucket dredger and a backhoe will be deployed.