Mott MacDonald has been appointed by Port of Fujairah in the UAE to provide construction management services for a major port expansion project.

The expansion is designed to accommodate the new generation of larger container ships up to 6, 000 teu capacity and bulk carriers up to 90,000 tonnes dwt.

Mott MacDonald's new services agreement - which also includes defects liability period assistance - focuses on a design and construct contract recently awarded to Six Construct for extending the berths by another 600 m at 15 m depth and providing an additional 100 m of berth for tugs and service vessels, sasy a company spokesman.

Mott MacDonald also provided tender design, documentation and evaluation services for this contract.

This latest appointment for Mott MacDonald at Fujairah follows a previous agreement under which the consultant provided tender design, documentation and evaluation services for an earlier contract to dredge the port entrance channel and basin to 15 m depth. This first stage - now completed under Mott MacDonald's supervision - involved removing some 4 million cu m of sand and sandstone using one of the most powerful cutter-suction dredgers in the world.

Construction of the new berth facilities is scheduled for completion in 2002.