One of the biggest projects Louis Berger is currently involved in is a greenfield port development in Nigeria.
“It is an opportunity to start from scratch,” says senior planner Ben Lieberman. “In a country of 150m people, you need additional port capacity – but the idea is also to develop it as a hub for all West Africa for post-panamax vessels. The project is in the planning stage at present; it would be a rock breakwater, with 15-16 metres depth alongside the quays. The private developer is currently negotiating with operators and construction companies.”
Starting from a blank sheet of paper allows for efficient planning from the beginning, he says. “However, building a brand new port from scratch entails significant costs. In older ports that have developed incrementally, the construction costs may seem less daunting when they come in smaller increments. Nigeria is a big country population-wise in that area, and they want to be a hub, handling larger ships and achieving the economies of scale that drive more efficiencies, with larger and faster cranes.”
In Panama, Louis Berger is responsible for construction supervision of the Balboa container terminal expansion – which will provide an additional berth and cranes, and an expanded container storage yard. “There are significant opportunities at Balboa for both the Atlantic and Pacific and also because it is next to the Panama Canal,” says Mr Lieberman.
Green issues came to the fore here: “We had to re-channel a couple of small rivers and creeks going through the area – this was done in an environmentally sensitive way.”
