Profile

DEME Building Materials

DEME Building Materials (DBM) is the DEME subsidiary for winning, processing and supply of sea aggregates on the European market. The company was established in June 2000 and has the benefit of an important portfolio of long-term concessions, spanning an area from northern Germany over the UK to the Seine estuary in France. In barely two years, DBM has succeeded to build up marketing positions, thanks to partnerships with local companies and its presence on regional markets.

Winning aggregates for the construction industry has always been among the activities of DEME-companies. As a matter of fact, those were the very roots of one of the constitutive DEME-companies, Ackermans & van Haaren, which started business in Belgium with gravel dredging in the river Meuse. Gravel dredging in the bedrock of the river Meuse has always continued, particularly with the dipper dredgers Samson and Durme, each with a complete sand and gravel processing plant. In addition, DEME has been involved for many decades in gravel dredging off Le Havre and Dieppe in France.

Gearing up aggregate winning activities in DBM is another piece of cake altogether. For one thing, moving to marine aggregate winning makes for a significantly different activity - and a strategic reorientation as well in the context of restricted on-land operations. On the other hand, the scale of activity has completely changed after DBM commissioned the “Charlemagne” and decisively broadened its scope to the full geographic range of north-west Europe.

The Charlemagne is a 5.000 m3 trailing suction hopper dredger, specially designed for marine aggregate dredging. It possesses dry unloading equipment for the efficient discharge of gravel at a rate of 2.400 tons/OH. The vessel can enter ports with a relatively reduced water depth, but is capable of dredging down to minus 60 metres as well.

DBM operates (dis)charging and processing plants at Hamburg and Flushing, and operates several storage facilities in northern France.