BMT planning expertise

The group will assist the development and validation of the Canal’s design and operations through a structured framework.

Dr Richard D Colwill, managing director at BMT Asia Pacific, said: “Our Study will seek to articulate a solution that minimises canal excavation while ensuring adequate canal capacity and safety.”

“A crucial part of that solution involves sophisticated navigation and transport simulation, which will set the basis for identifying a design that balances excavation CAPEX with operational safety, efficiency and capacity,” he added.

BMT’s proprietary simulator, REMBRANDT, is said to be recognised by the shipping sector for its accurate and detailed recreations of the navigation environment. Navigation simulators recreate typical scenarios that ship master would experience.

Alongside this, the What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) output provides a powerful platform that assists engineers and mariners to investigate different design geometries.

K W Pang, executive director at HKND, added: “The Nicaragua Canal system will see a large variety of vessels and wide range of vessel movements along the canal, within the inland ports, and between canal, port and ocean approaches. These activities occur with differing metocean conditions, transit speeds/directions, and transit modes, etc.”

“Recognising this complexity, we are seeking to access BMT’s global network of subject matter experts to assemble a highly capable, technical team to address the Canal’s marine safety and traffic challenges from all angles,” he concluded.

The BMT group has previously completed an environment project to help increase knowledge of marine fauna off the coast of Western Australia and argued that case of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) contributing to sustainable future development at ports and harbours.