Norrkoping

Our Client
The Port of Norrköping has seen some major investments during the last few years. A complete new container terminal has been constructed and the quay wall at the Pampus terminal reinforced. The investments were made so that the port could receive more and larger vessels in the near future. These plans required the widening and deepening of the access channel, turning basin and Outer and Inner Pampus basins.

The contract for the dredging work was signed between the Sjöfartsverket (Swedish Maritime Administration) and Van Oord in December 2009. The actual dredging work started at the end of April 2010, after the winter season. The project was funded by the community of Norrköping and the Sjöfartsverket. A steering committee was set up to supervise the work.

Our work
The project started with widening the channel and dredging the stability berms. The material that was dredged consisted of soft clay. During the second stage, the backhoe dredger Simson cleared the rock surface of moraine (160,000 m³) as preparation for the blasting work. A drilling and blasting pontoon from Wicks (100% subsidiary of Van Oord) was mobilised to blast a total of 140,000 m³ of rock. After the blasting, the backhoe dredger Simson removed the fragmented rock. In October 2010, the remaining soft material was dredged by widening and deepening the channel in accordance with the design. A total of 2,900,000 m³ of soft clay were dredged.

Due to the strict environmental permit for the entire project, an environmental monitoring program was set up. The monitoring programme included measuring turbidity, noise and vibration during the blasting and dredging work.

Our results
The project was completed in April 2011. As a result, the Port of Norrköping can now receive more and larger vessels, which is sure to boost Sweden's economy.