Van Oord-- The Mega Project Powerhouse You May Never Have Heard Of!

Everyone has heard of Emaar, Nakheel and ALDAR. But one of the most important companies in the Mega Project industry is one that most people have never heard of: Van Oord. Without this company there would be no Palm or World Islands. Van Oord is not a Mega Developer. What Van Oord specializes in is the EXTREMELY IMPORTANT job of LAND RECLAMATION. These are the people that actually CREATE the Palm and World Islands BEFORE the Mega Developers can go to work with their projects.

Van Oord's activities include:

- Land reclamation and artificial islands,
- Extension and improvement of harbors and waterways,
- Maintenance of harbors and waterways,
- Beach nourishment and foreshore replenishment,
- Environmental dredging,
- Trench dredging and backfilling,
- Deep sea dredging,
- Drilling and blasting.

I cannot emphasize enough how important Van Oord's work has been in the Gulf Mega Project Boom. Here are the Van Oord projects in The Gulf:

> Dubai - Beach replenishment and shore protection,
> Dubai - Deira Islands,
> Dubai - Dubai Maritime City,
> Dubai - Dubai Promenade,
> Dubai - Logo Islands,
> Dubai - Palm Deira Developments,
> Dubai - Palm Jumeirah,
> Dubai - Rock Transport,
> Dubai - The World,
> Fujairah and Shuweihat Terminals,
> Bahrain - North Bahrain New Town,
> Qatar - New Doha International Airport,
> Qatar/United Arab Emirates - Dolphin,
> Oman - Sohar Port.

Very impressive! Van Oord also has projects going on in China, India, S. Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Brazil, Venezuela, and all over Europe! According to the company:

'Van Oord is a world class marine contractor, working day to day on dredging and marine projects around the world. We have been building tomorrow's infrastructure for over a century now. Our business is to carry out challenging projects with our highly skilled professional staff and our modern production fleet.

'Van Oord executes projects of any size or complexity anywhere in the world. The combination of dedication and entrepreneurship perpetually creates new business opportunities. We offer our clients solutions to their problems - from the designing table all the way to project completion, conscious of the environment and anticipating local circumstances. We are continuously improving our equipment and work methods. Innovative thinking has led us to our present top position in the world of marine contracting.'

Van Oord is little known to the public but held in very high esteem in the Mega Project community. Without their work, the many incredible Mega Projects that are putting The Gulf on page one all over the world, would not exist!

Here is a Van Oord video from YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOAmNEmMPZ8

This link takes you to the Van Oord website:

http://www.vanoord.com/