Bathtub Reef Beach Renourishment Scheme Kicks Off

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Last week, Construction began on a beach renourishment project that will create a new and improved Bathtub Reef Beach, as Martin County’s latest announcement.

The project is expected to be finished in May, prior to the start of the new sea turtle nesting season.
The northern half of Sailfish Point Beach will also be included in this beach renourishment project, the County stated.

Ferreira Construction has moved the Lori Hill Dredge to the east side of the area in the St. Lucie Inlet known as Borrow Area C.

Through mid-March, dredging works will take place in Borrow Area C within the St. Lucie Inlet flood shoals.

The pipeline corridor will cross the inlet and the pipeline will be submerged as it crosses the navigation channel and re-emerges onto the beach at the North Jetty moving north.

The booster pump will be floating just west of the shoal in the impoundment basin in the St. Lucie Inlet.

Van Oord Strengthens Fleet With TSHD Contender

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As a Dutch contracting company, Van Oord specializes in dredging and land reclamation has acquired trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) ‘Contender’, which has a hopper capacity of 2,680 m3 from Dutch Abeko Marine.

This purchase allows Van Oord to strengthen its fleet in the small trailing suction hopper dredger segment.

“Dravo S.A., our Spanish subsidiary, will deploy the vessel in the Mediterranean and northwest Europe to solidify our market position,” said Executive Board member Niels de Bruijn.

The Contender was built in 1998. Abeko Marine transferred the vessel into a trailing suction hopper dredger in 2011.

The vessel is 88 m long and 16 m wide. With a draught of less than 6 m, it is especially suited to dredging operations in shallow water.

Sabetta Port Project Progresses According To Schedule

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Federal facilities of Sabetta Port, being built under the Yamal-LNG project, will be finished in line with the schedule, said Artem Melnikov, Director of Fertoing Ltd., one of the project contractors, at the 3rd International Forum of Dredging Companies.

The international dredging conference, organized by Media Group PortNews, held yesterday in Moscow.

According to Alexander Ivanyuk, Technical Director of Mordraga LLC, DEME’s Russian subsidiary, and the company in charge of Sabetta dredging, the year of 2016 is to see dredging at the port’s water area up to -15.2 meters and at the access channel up to -15.1 meters.

The accomplishment of the second phase of the sea channel (up to 495 meters wide) and the access channel (up to 295 meters wide) is scheduled for 2017, Ivanyuk added.

Total amount of dredging works at Sabetta Port for the 2014-2017 period will contain a removal of 68.6 mln cbm of material.

Panama Canal Expansion Program 96 Percent Complete

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The Panama Canal Expansion Program, the largest infrastructure project, since the waterway’s original construction, is now 96 percent complete.

The Pacific access channel is 99 percent complete and the third set of locks is now 95 percent complete.
Once fully complete, the new set of locks will double the capacity of the Panama Canal, creating a new lane of traffic and allowing larger ships, the New Panamax size, to travel the canal.

Canal de Panamá – La Ruta, a government organization, has just released on its Facebook page this wonderful photo from the Panama Canal expansion program.

The project is planned to be inaugurated in the second quarter of 2016.

 

Hopper Dredger McFarland at Work

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ hopper dredger McFarland continues to remove shoaling from sediment that January floods brought south in the Mississippi River’s Southwest Pass.

McFarland was deployed on short notice, making part of the Army Corps of Engineers’ ready reserve for rapidly emerging requirements like this one.

The USACE, Philadelphia District, has released this photo of McFarland, taken during its work to keep navigation channels open where the Mississippi meets the Gulf of Mexico.

Exmouth Boat Harbor Dredging Underway

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Maintenance dredging is underway now to restore navigation channels and sand to beaches at Exmouth Boat Harbor.

Department of Transport (DoT) Coastal Infrastructure General Manager Steve Jenkins said that maintenance dredging, which lasts completed in 2004, would restore depths and ensure safe navigation of the harbor.

“Dredging will also deepen wharf, trawler pen, and breakwater areas identified for improvement in the current $18.275 million upgrades of the facility,” said Mr. Jenkins.

“This project builds upon the regular sand replenishment works that were undertaken by DOT in October 2015, which saw approximately 12,000 m³ of sand shifted from the beach south of the harbor and placed on Town Beach.

“This $700,000, the three-month long campaign will see an additional 25,000 m³ of material placed on Town Beach to enhance the beach for the local community to enjoy.”

Skippers operating in the area and people accessing the beach ought to be aware of the special safety arrangements implemented for the dredging and sand replenishment works.

The facility upgrade work, funded by the State Government through Royalties for Regions, includes an extension to the service wharf, construction of a heavy lift facility and additional moorings.