The featured image above shows our larger backhoe dredger, ‘Doreen Dorward’ working through the night with our new 50t long reach excavator and 3D GPS guidance system and split hopper barge ‘NAB’, at Sparkes Marina on Hayling Island. This site incorporates some of our usual challenges, including tidal constraints for working in very shallow water.
An issue we often encounter with dredging projects, they tend to be shallow! We have learned to work with the tides, loading on the rising tide, and getting the fully laden hopper barge to depart the dredge site at or just before high tide. Of course the fully loaded barge has the largest draft of any vessel on site, but in our case this is a minimal 2.3m. The barge then proceeds to sea to dispose of her dredged spoil at the designated sea disposal site (often Nab Tower, for many Solent dredge areas). After discharging the load, the draft is greatly reduced again (1.2m), which helps the empty barge get back into the dredge area ready for the next load, before it get’s too shallow on the low tide.
Working in Chichester Harbour presents an additional challenge to overcome, namely the shallow bar at the harbour entrance, which is also highly weather sensitive and creates choppy conditions when there is a fresh breeze, especially when you have ‘wind over tide’. The trip to sea usually takes around 4 hours. To maximise production, work most efficiently and provide the client with the most competitive price, we have adapted to working tidally in Chichester harbour. This means that dredge crews work over the high tide every 12 hrs, day and night, to get the project completed as soon as possible!
We work extensively for marina operators, and we understand that whilst areas have to be cleared of vessels and pontoons in order to dredge, this represents a period of lost revenue for the operator. We focus on providing an efficient service to get in and out as quickly as possible, so the client can get their marina operating again and resume normal service.
Our dredgers have been busy working at various marinas along the south coast this winter, many within the Solent and South coast areas. After completing the current contract in Chichester Harbour, we will be moving back into the Solent to work in Cowes on the Isle of Wight for several of our regular clients, before the dredger moves on to other exciting civils projects planned for the spring/summer period. Our smaller compact hopper dredger ‘C H Horn’ has also been busy working in the local area this winter for several Marinas, an ideal choice when a there is a nearby sea disposal site.
If you have a requirement for dredging or marine operations in shallow or near shore projects, please feel free to get in touch to see where we can help.