First phase of Antwerp’s Deurganck quay wall completed

First phase of Antwerp’s Deurganck quay wall completed    The first 1,260 meters of quay wall of the huge riverside Deurganck container terminal in the port of Antwerp has been completed.
   Eventually the terminal will feature a total 5,190 meters of
30-meter-high quay wall and an annual capacity of 5.5 million TEUs, more than Antwerp’s total capacity at present, the Antwerp Port Authority said.
   Construction of phase 1 of the development was carried out by the Cordeel-Aertssen consortium, while phase 2 was awarded to the consortium of MBG-CFE-Van Laere-Dredging International. The two consortia have since combined to form the Deurganck consortium, which will be responsible for construction of phase 3.
   Phase 1, on which work first began in October 1999, was dogged by persistent and intense planning disputes and court-imposed delays which lasted for almost two years.
   Work is now moving ahead on phase 2, to the point where a temporary partition wall has been built across the full width of the dock, in order to keep out water and to begin construction of the dock’s permanent front wall. Phases 1 and 2 are due to be completed in 2005, the Antwerp Port Authority said.