Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase dredging insufficient for Port Georgetown

Last Updated on Sunday, 26 January 2025, 16:47 by Writer

—New shorebase key for development of several oil wells

The widening, deepening and extension of the channel of the Demerara River by Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase Inc (VEHS), would not benefit the wider shipping community that operates in Port Georgetown, a shipping industry expert said Sunday.

In fact, the 2025 National Budget allocates monies to “support dredging of the Demerara River channels to ensure safe passage of larger ships.”

Director of Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase Inc (VEHSI), Andron Alphonso told Saturday evening’s official commissioning of the facility on the West Coast Demerara that the Demerara River channel has been deepened from five metres at low tide to more than nine metres at low tide, widened from from 50 to 100 meters and extended from 18 kilometres to over 28 kilometres “from the mouth of the river to provide access to larger vessels with deeper draft.”

He said those “magnificent improvements” to “common infrastructure” are “fringe benefits” of the sh0rebase project as a result of the investment of US$60 million in upgrading the channel of the Demerara River where most of Guyana’s imports and exports are delivered and offloaded.

But former Chairman of the Shipping Association of Guyana (SAG), Anthony Astwood said those works would not see larger vessels docking at major commercial wharves in P0rt Georgetown. “More work has to be done. It doesn’t really stop there. Access up to one point is not really something what we can consider as something that is complete. You have to come into the river,” he told Demerara Waves Online News. He said Vreed-en-Hoop shorebase has deepened and widened “up to their point which is at the mouth of the river which is exactly where they are.”

Mr Alphonso said the more-than-40-square-mile shorebase was constructed at a cost of over US$260 million. The Belgian-headquartered Jan de Nul Group’s Area Manager, Patrik Lowie said his company invested US$100 million “out of pocket” into the project. Jan de Nul Group provided geotechnical and engineering services for the project.

ExxonMobil Guyana’s President, Alistair Routledge said the shorebase would be used for fabrication and the deployment of subsea umbilical, risers and flowlines for Yellowtail and other oil well production development projects. They include Uaru, Whiptail and Hammerhead. “That is what this shorebase is built to enable; it’s to bring that work scope here” to enable more fabrication of the pipelines and flowlines,” he said.

Initially, Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohamed had been one of the investors, along with the Alphonsos and Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer, but he pulled out in October 2023 amid concerns that had been raised by the United States government. In April, 2024, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that he, his son, Azruddin Mohammed, and then government Permanent Secretary, Mae Thomas had been sanctioned. The Mohameds had been cited for alleged tax evasion on gold exports.

US law prohibits American companies, such as ExxonMobil, from doing business with sanctioned persons or entities.

Mr Routledge said ExxonMobil Guyana has a 20-year contract to use the Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase.

VEHSI said in a statement that the opening of the shore base is expected to bring significant economic and employment opportunities to Region 3 and already during its construction phase, the project has created hundreds of jobs. It is now expected to generate massive employment and will continue to grow as it keeps expanding. In addition, the company said local businesses and the immediate community have already seen the tangible benefits.