Belgian dredging company Deme has won a contract worth €52m to help build an offshore wind terminal in the Port of Cuxhaven in Germany.

Expected to cost €300m in total, the terminal is being developed by a consortium that also includes two German firms: marine engineer Tagu and general contractor Depenbrock.

It will boost Cuxhaven’s ability to handle heavy-duty loads, particularly components for wind farms.

It will be operated by Niedersachsen Ports (NPorts), and will consist of berths and 1,250m of quay, as well as a storage area of 38ha.

Deme will carry out dredging and land reclamation works. Lutz Dröge, area manager for Germany, said in a press statement: “Construction of the expanded terminal requires an innovative technical approach.

“The project includes the installation of combi-walls and land reclamation in a dynamic estuarine environment, meeting the complex engineering requirements tailored to a heavy load terminal and demanding geotechnical conditions.”

The company is expected to use two suction hopper dredgers and a backhoe dredger to reposition more than 3 million cubic metres of mud.

It was announced in March that finance for the project would be provided by the federal government together with the state of Lower Saxony and private industry.

Deme and its consortium partners previously delivered berths 8 and 4 at the same port. Additionally, Deme used Cuxhaven as its base during work on the Borkum Riffgrund 2 offshore wind farm.

In the past, the company has also worked on deepening of the Elbe River, which flows into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, and the widening of the Kiel Canal.

This project will start early next year and complete in the middle of 2028.