Kenneth Willems
Kenneth is managing director at the consultancy firm Vuentica, acted as chairman of the PIANC working group on ECI and co-founded online collaboration start-up V-Rooms. Before Vuentica, he spent most of his career at DEME Group in various management roles across Europe, the Middle East and in Latin America before leading its risk management department in Antwerp, Belgium. Kenneth is an experienced infrastructure and enterprise risk management professional based in Belgium. He has a wide range of experience in early contractor involvement, project management, risk management and contract management.
Articles By Kenneth Willems
Applying early contractor involvement in marine infrastructure procurement
Complex construction projects that use traditional procurement practices are often impacted by significant cost overruns and delays. Early contractor involvement (ECI) is a concept that strives to involve the contractor collaboratively at an early stage of a project’s development to mitigate or otherwise eliminate those risks. In August 2022, PIANC published the report “A framework for early contractor involvement in infrastructure projects” to help industry practitioners in choosing and best implementing ECI. This article is intended to develop on key aspects of the PIANC report and look at the factors that can lead to a successful maritime ECI project.
Challenge in Logistics: New Suez Canal Project
The New Suez Canal project was a titanic effort in logistics. Six global dredging contractors completed the works within one year and several records were broken during the execution of the project. The contractors disposed of more than 245 million m3 of sand in just nine months.