Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited DEME Group and Great Lakes Dredge & Dock to respond to this article.  They responded as follows:

"The consortium Dredging International (DEME Group) and Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company are committed to maintaining the highest level of health and safety wherever they do business. The implementation of our commitments are regularly monitored through internal and external audits. Therefore, the consortium is convinced that the insinuations and allegations the article refers to, are in no way related to our recent activities in Egypt or anywhere else in the world.

DEME Group and Great Lakes strongly reject any insinuation or allegation that the company would not respect the human rights of their local staff and vessel crew.

The working conditions, the accommodation, the quality of food, the transport and the safety measures were constantly of high quality and equal for both the expats as the locals. All our people were provided with personal protective equipment and received daily trainings by means of toolbox meetings allowing them to execute their tasks in safe conditions. As a result, no major incidents took place.

The consortium was awarded lot 6 of the new Suez Canal and realized an additional 250-metre-wide, 24-metre-deep, and 29.5-kilometre-long fairway through the Great Bitter Lake. The access channels to the lake have been widened to 140 meters."