The Swedish Maritime Administration intends to dredge the Port of Luleå, a regional gateway to the Scandinavian Arctic, as part of plans to strengthen the port’s role as a regional logistics hub that supports the green transition of local industry.

Boskalis and Van Oord jointly won the €500M (US570M) contract from the administration, with revenues expected to be split equally between the two Benelux-based vessel owners.

Around 14M m3 of material will be removed in 2027 to 2030 as part of the Malmporten project to enable larger ships to enter the harbour at Luleå.

This will involve several dredgers supported by tugs working in the ice-free seasons, with activities expected to be completed before mid-August 2030

"The Malmporten project is an investment that will strengthen Sweden’s long-term competitiveness and support economic growth across the country," said Swedish Maritime Administration director general, Erik Eklund.

Trailing suction hopper dredgers, backhoe dredgers, grab dredgers and drill & blast platforms will be used to deepen the port’s 40-km fairway and harbour basin, enabling the port to accommodate vessels with a draught of up to 14.7 m and a cargo capacity of up to 85,000 tons.

This marks a significant increase of nearly two times the current capacity of 45,000 tons and opens the port to new business.

“With this contract in place, Sweden’s largest-ever dredging project can now move into the implementation phase,” said Mr Eklund.

“It marks an important milestone and reflects many years of close collaboration between the Swedish Maritime Administration and the Port of Luleå,” he said.

“Together with the introduction of our new larger icebreaker, the project will significantly strengthen capacity and enhance the competitiveness of northern Sweden by the winter of 2030/31.”

Luleå, capital of the northern province of Norrbotten, is undergoing a significant green industrial development driven by investments in fossil-free steel and sustainable energy

Expansion of the port should improve operational efficiency and contribute to lower emissions per ton of transported cargo.

Boskalis and Van Oord’s vessels will remove sand, silt, clay, moraine soils, boulders and rock from the seabed and part of this dredged material will be reused for land reclamation as part of the development of a new deepwater port area.

According to Boskalis, environmental protection will be a key focus of the project. “Mitigation measures will include the use of silt screens, bubble curtains, environmental buckets, turbidity monitoring and dredging techniques to minimise the environmental impact,” said the Dutch group.

Boskalis and Van Oord have already completed preparatory dredging work in Luleå by removing 1.5M m3 of sediment, hard moraine soils and large boulders from the area in 2024.

Expansion of the Port of Luleå is partially driven by use of larger vessels with deeper draughts transporting raw material exports from northern Sweden and Finland, the transition to sustainable steel production and demand for renewable fuels.

“This is a decisive step in preparing the Port of Luleå for future demand,” said Port of Luleå chief executive, Anders Dahl.”

“Increased capacity is essential for the mining industry, the steel sector and new industrial investments in northern Sweden. It also provides our customers with the long-term certainty they need to invest and grow.”

Investment in the port has included delivery of a newbuild ice-breaking harbour tug in 2025 ready to support these larger ships and enable year-round operations.

Damen’s Song Cam Shipyard in Vietnam completed azimuth stern drive (ASD) tug Victoria for the port.

This 34-m vessel, built to Damen’s ASD Tug 3413 ICE design, has a beam of 13 m, a maximum speed of 14 knots and a bollard pull of 73 tonnes ahead and 69 tonnes astern.

It can maintain 8 knots through 1.1-m thick floe ice or 3 knots through 1.1 m first-year ice which is important for year-round operations in Arctic harbours.

Positive feedback from the Port of Luleå on its successful operation of Victoria led to Damen gaining a contract from family-owned Alfons Håkans for a similar Damen ASD 3413 ICE-design tug in May 2026.