Bouygues Travaux Publics, a Bouygues Construction subsidiary, has won the contract for construction and 30-year concession of one package for South Korea’s new Busan Harbour. The 703 million euro contract was signed by concession company Busan New Container Terminal (BNCT) ⁽¹⁾ and the South Korean Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

The new Busan Harbour project is divided into four packages which will be built and operated by four different concession companies. It will replace the existing harbour ⁽²⁾ located in the centre of the city and will be better able to respond to strong growth in maritime container traffic (about 10% per year). Located on Korea’s south-eastern coast, it will be well placed to serve local and international markets, particularly China.

BNCT will be in charge of the design and construction of civil works, together with the supply of handling facilities (container gantry cranes and other harbour cranes, shuttle carriers, etc.) for a total contract amount of 584 million euros. Of this, the value of the work to be done by Bouygues Travaux Publics amounts to 250 million euros.

Work began on 1 January 2008 and will last four years (handover at the end of 2011). The first phase will consist in treating the ground and carrying out extensive earthworks to reclaim 84 hectares of land from the sea. Concrete caissons will then be installed to form the four quays at which container ships will berth.

Up to 400 people will be working on the site at peak periods.

In the operation phase, BNCT will manage about 2.7 million containers transiting through the port per year. All the equipment (cranes and shuttle carriers) will be fully automated.

This is Bouygues Travaux Publics’ first harbour concession project and its second project in South Korea; the company’s first concession in the country, won in 2004, is for the design, construction, and 30 years of operation and maintenance of Machang Bridge (1,700 metres long) which will be completed this year.

The contract also illustrates Bouygues Travaux Publics’ know-how in the field of large maritime engineering projects. After handing over the extension of Monaco Harbour and Morocco’s Tangiers Med commercial port in 2007, the company is currently building a second port in Tangiers, for ferry traffic.
 

⁽¹⁾ Concession company BNCT comprises two engineering contractors (Bouygues Travaux Publics and Hyundai Development Company), two shipping companies (CMA CGM and KMTC), two logistics operators (Kukje Transportation Co. Ltd. and KCTC), the Busan Port Authority (BPA), and Macquarie Korea Infrastructure Fund.

⁽²⁾ The current Busan Harbour is the world’s fifth-largest container port.