In line with the recently approved sand berm plans by the President of the US, the State of Louisiana has contracted Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. to deliver sand for berms to protect the Louisiana coast from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The Boskalis trailing suction hopper dredger Stuyvesant, which sails under the American flag, has been deployed as the first US hopper as of today. The sand berms, which will be approximately 75 km long, will be positioned to the south of New Orleans, in line with the Chandeleur Islands and stretching from East Grand Terre island to Sandy Point. The sand berms, 6 feet high, will help block the oil from entering the state’s more fragile and harder-to-clean marshes.

Boskalis is also supplying its expertise, supporting the authorities with the installation and deployment of the rigid sweeping arms made available by the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. Boskalis has years of experience in this field and we have teamed up with the Dutch Ministry successfully in the past to clean up oil throughout Europe.

The Boskalis strategy is designed to benefit from the key macro-economic drivers that are fueling global demand in our selected markets: global trade, increasing energy consumption, expanding population pressures and the challenges of changing climate conditions.