Boskalis and Van Oord win €500 million Port of Luleå dredging contract
Boskalis and Van Oord have secured an approximately €500 million contract to deepen the fairway and harbor basin at Sweden’s Port of Luleå. The equally shared work is scheduled to begin in spring 2027 and will involve dredging about 14 million cubic meters before completion in August 2030.
Boskalis and Van Oord have been awarded a dredging contract valued at approximately €500 million for the Malmporten Project at the Port of Luleå in Sweden. The Swedish Maritime Administration and the port awarded the contract, with its value to be divided equally between the two contractors.
The joint venture will deepen the fairway and harbor basin to accommodate ships drawing up to 14.7 meters and carrying as much as 85,000 tons. That would nearly double the port’s current stated cargo capacity of 45,000 tons, supporting larger vessels and reducing emissions per ton of cargo transported.
Work is scheduled to start in spring 2027, with operations conducted during ice-free seasons and completed before mid-August 2030. The scope covers approximately 14 million cubic meters of sand, silt, clay, moraine, boulders and fresh rock. Some of the material will be reused to reclaim land for a new deepwater port area.
The contractors expect to deploy trailing suction hopper, backhoe and grab dredgers alongside drill-and-blast platforms. Boskalis said environmental controls will include silt screens, bubble curtains, environmental buckets and turbidity monitoring. Boskalis and Van Oord previously completed preparatory dredging in the project area in 2024, removing approximately 1.5 million cubic meters of material.