CGX to complete Berbice port trestle by month end

…as work continues on infrastructure needed to moor ships

Work continues on the Berbice Deep Water Port (BDWP), being built by Canadian oil company CGX Energy, who recently revealed that an important component of the project, the trestle, should be completed this month.

The Canadian oil company recently provided an update on the BDWP, being built in the Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne). For instance, in the update, CGX revealed that security features in the port such as a security fence around the port yard and surveillance cameras, had been completed in June 2024.
Further, CGX also announced that the extension of the trestle, as well as piles, would be completed by the end of August. Work on the trestle had started in early July. Once the project is completed, these components would help in the mooring of vessels.
“The Company completed in June, construction of a security fence and installation of surveillance cameras. Construction of a trestle extension as well as driving piles for fendering and mooring to aid in bringing vessels alongside commenced in early July with completion expected by end August,” CGX said.
Through its local subsidiary – the Grand Canal Industrial Estates (GCIE), CGX had undertaken the construction of the US$130 million deep-water port in the Berbice River which includes a wharf facility and a trestle as well as a cargo terminal.
Local company GAICO Construction was contracted to work on the access trestle and wharf, as well as dredge the Berbice river. The port facility is being constructed to support oil and gas activities offshore of Guyana.
In an update back in March 2024, the company had said that cargo operations at the port were slated to start in the second quarter of 2024. However, in its Quarterly Highlights for the first three months of 2024, which was published on May 8, CGX reported that operationalisation had been shifted to the third quarter of this year.
Being built on 30 acres of land adjacent to Crab Island on the eastern bank of the Berbice River and some 4.8 km from the Atlantic Ocean, the BDWP facility is intended to serve as an offshore supply base for the oil and gas industry, and as a multi-purpose terminal to service agricultural import/export, containerised and specialised cargoes, including aggregates for construction purposes.
The BDWP Project is also aimed at enabling the provisioning of oil operators and vendors in the territorial waters of both Guyana and Suriname. GCIE had also previously reported that there were some minor setbacks with the project.
This is due to revisions that were needed to the design of its wharf and trestle in the Berbice River. The port will be capable of loading and offloading vessels, mainly aggregates, from the completed trestle, as well as the storage of material at the completed port yard.
Previously, the Guyana Government had expressed concerns over the slow pace of the BDWP Project and made CGX relinquish two oil exploration blocks offshore Demerara and Berbice to the State so that the company could focus on operations in the Corentyne Block, where it made significant oil discovery, as well as on the deep-water port facility.
Concerns still remain, however, with Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo recently revealing that the Guyana Government could end its deal with CGX due to their failure to present satisfactory responses on plans to develop its oil block offshore Guyana. Jagdeo had also said that Government plans to engage the operators on the future plans for their Guyana operations.
President Dr. Irfaan Ali has on multiple occasions, emphasised the importance of a deep-water harbour in Guyana as part of his administration’s push to have the country become a major logistics and trans-shipment hub in the South America and Caribbean regions.
With work ongoing on a paved road through Lethem to connect to Northern Brazil, and with the Corentyne River Bridge to connect with Suriname pending, the aim is to use Guyana as a transshipment hub to get cargoes moved to neighbouring countries as well as to other nations in the region. (G3)