Jenkins Marine was instructed by Isle of Wight Council to carry out a capital dredge in the River Medina where it approaches Newport harbour to increase the depth of the navigable channel. The full dredge length was over 500m from start point to its finish in Newport harbour.
The last time it was dredged was back in the 1970’s and current dredging operations started in early May just after the bank holiday and are due to be completed in the next few weeks. In action on this project are Jenkins Marine’s multi-purpose utility vessel Doreen Dorward with long reach excavator equipped with a 3m³ bucket with a smooth blade to reduce the loading time and improve the finish. They are accompanied by the 300m³ capacity self-propelled, split hopper barge Needles who, following completion of the work, will head into drydock for her planned full refit of the bridge and accommodation at Manor Marine, Portland (See October 2020 news article Double Vision – Matching Upgrades For NAB and Needles).
The project is challenging as the target dredge depth is 0.8m above chart datum and the team needed to work closely with the tides to get the best dredging efficiency. This involves one 300m³ split hopper load per tide cycle to ensure there is enough water depth to allow the split hopper barge, Needles to have safe access for arrival and departure. For this reason the crews are maintaining 24 hour operations to allow for maximum production efficiency.
Doreen Dorward with a Jenkins Marine long reach excavator is perfect for shallow operations like this where she is able to remain on station with the use of her spud legs and shallow flat bottom draft without the need to reposition from the work site. The Excavator has been equipped with a Prolec digital dredging system to allow for high accuracy in both position and depth of the excavator bucket to optimise the dredging requirements and allow for the best efficiency. With the use of this system we are able to ensure we achieve a high quality finish to ensure our clients get the best results from our services.
Dan Jenkins, director of Jenkins Marine, added:
“We are delighted to be working with the Isle of Wight Council to undertake the dredging works and recognise this is an important step in the regeneration of the harbour.”
Survey work for the initial survey and for the duration of the project is being carried out by Paul Tosswell, Lymington Technical Services Ltd.
If you have a requirement for marine operations in shallow or near shore projects, please feel free to get in touch to see where we can help.