Sediment News

Arctia Meritaito, a subsidiary of Finland's Arctia, announced it has been awarded a contract by the Norwegian Mapping Authority to perform hydrographic seabed surveying as part of the 2024 Mareano program.Under its contract from the Norwegian Mapping Authority's Hydrographic Service (NHS), Arctia Meritaito will survey approximately 1,900 square kilometers with multibeam echosounder and sub bottom profiler in potential offshore wind area Sørvest F in the North Sea.The surveys will be conducted by the multipurpose research vessel Pohjanmeri.

2024 marks another year for development of a biennial WRDA bill—Water Resources Development Act, critical legislation for the Nation’s waterways, ports and harbors. WRDA encompasses a range of issues, from environmental regs to energy use to agriculture and, of course, a focus on projects critical for economic growth.Because these are dynamic and timely issues, Congress and the maritime sector like to keep WRDA on a two-year reauthorization timeline. Indeed, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, December and January, held three WRDA information hearings.

Techcross announced its filterless HYCHLOR 2.0 ballast water management system (BWMS) obtained type approval from the U.S. Coast Guard at the end of January 2024.Techcross' HYCHLOR 2.0 is an updated version of the company's  HYCHLOR 1.0 system, which received USCG type approval in 2020. Notably, the filter had been eliminated in the HYCHLOR 2.0 system.BMWS filters, which play a role in initially filtering out sediment in seawater, have been a source of many AS service issues due to clogging or maintenance troubles.While the absence of filters may raise concerns about disinfection capability…

A dredging and sand replenishment project at Southern California's Solana Beach is about halfway complete, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said.The project, which reduces coastal storm damage and erosion along a 7,200-foot-long stretch of shoreline, includes construction of a 150-foot-wide beach fill using 700,000 cubic yards of compatible sediment.Operations started Jan. 17 and are on schedule to wrap up in mid-March, according to Caleb Lodge, coastal engineer with the Corps' Los Angeles District.“They’re doing about seven or eight loads a day…

Pacific Northwest seaports Seattle and Tacoma have signed design agreements with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for a pair of waterway navigation improvement projects.The Seattle Navigation Improvement Project, authorized by Congress in 2018, and the Tacoma Harbor Navigation Improvement Project, authorized in 2022, are part of a comprehensive modernization initiative for The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) gateway that began nearly a decade ago.Containerships navigating in the trans-Pacific trade are increasing in size…

In 2019, Oldendorff Carriers signed a research agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms to investigate disruptive improvements in ship design, propulsion, and alternative energy sources to help achieve the enhanced decarbonization targets to 2050. As part of their agreement, Oldendorff Carriers asked MIT to conduct a study on the long-term stability and degradation of a B20 advanced biofuel blend.Biofuels offer a drop-in fuel option, reducing GHG emissions from a life-cycle perspective.

Naval architecture firm Glosten announced it has completed the design for the R/V Thuwal II, KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)’s new research vessel optimized for generalized oceanography and tailored to the Middle East’s hot climate.Once built, it will be the largest and most specialized research vessel based in the Red Sea, supporting everything from biology to geology.The new vessel will replace the existing Thuwal, which is more than 20 years old and has served KAUST scientists for as many as 220 days at sea per year since 2013.

Maintaining a nine-foot channel on the Mississippi River is part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District’s critical navigation mission, especially during low-water conditions. Although early spring snowmelt caused flooding throughout the upper Midwest this past year, water levels receded quickly, causing large amounts of material to settle in the channel.To aid in channel maintenance, geological surveyors regularly monitor water levels throughout the District.

The International Association of Dredging Companies (IADC) has produced a new paper: “Sand as a resource: Best practices to conduct responsible dredging projects” was initiated and presented by its Sustainability Committee.According to the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP), 50 billion cubic meters of sand is mined annually. Of this amount however, only a small percentage (2-4%) is dredged by dredging companies.As a sector, the dredging industry has extensive expertise in the sustainable extraction of sand…

PD Ports in the U.K. has ordered a new dredging vessel from Dutch shipbuilder Neptune Marine.The 71-meter-long hopper dredge, which has already been named the Emerald Duchess following a competition among PD Ports employees, was ordered for £23 million and will arrive at Teesport next summer.Currently under construction at a shipyard in Poland for commissioning, ahead of trials in the Netherlands in 2024, the Emerald Duchess will replace the Cleveland County, which had served…

Derecktor Shipyards NY in Mamaroneck, N.Y. announced it has delivered a new hybrid research catamaran to the University of Vermont (UVM). The innovative vessel, Marcelle Melosira, will serve as a floating classroom and laboratory, enabling advanced research operations and hands-on educational programs.Designed by Chartwell Marine and built in collaboration with UVM and Chartwell, the 64-foot research catamaran has been crafted to fulfill the functions outlined by UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment & Natural Resources.

In the depths of the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Hawaii, trillions of potato-shaped rocks are scattered across the seabed - containing minerals such as nickel, cobalt and manganese vital for new green technologies in the global energy transition.In this ocean region - the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) - an abundance of the rocks, known as polymetallic nodules, is increasingly fuelling debate about the mining of metals needed to produce technology such as batteries for electric…

A group of Spanish archaeologists have made detailed diagrams of a 2,500-year-old Phoenician shipwreck to help work out how best to recover it from the sea before a storm destroys it forever.The eight-metre-long Mazarron II, named after the municipality in the southeastern Spanish region of Murcia where it was found off the coast, is a unique piece of ancient maritime engineering.Nine technicians from the University of Valencia underwent 560 hours of scuba diving over more than two weeks in June to record all the cracks and fissures in the ship…

The OSIL Vibrocorer has been in use on the early works for the River Thames Scheme, a £600 million project to develop two new flood channel sections for the River Thames.The River Thames Scheme aims to reduce the risk of flooding for approximately 15,000 homes and businesses along the River Thames involving a series of measures, including new flood walls and embankments, improvements to existing flood defenses, and flood storage areas and diversion channels to temporarily hold…

Extreme weather events—including both high and low water levels—can wreak havoc on inland waterways transport. In late 2022, severe drought conditions brought the latter to the Mississippi River Basin, underlining the importance of America’s dredging fleet.When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Memphis District's dredge Hurley returned to its home port, Ensley Engineer Yard, in Memphis Harbor, on January 13, 2023, it wrapped its longest, most productive season on record.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation, the largest provider of dredging services in the United States, announced the receipt of several major dredging awards totaling $138.8 million.The awarded work includes Trujillo Alto Design and Build for the Lago Loiza (Carraízo) Dredging Project (Maintenance, Puerto Rico, $93.1 million); Townsends Inlet to Cape May Inlet Project (Coastal Protection, New Jersey, $28.8 million); Palm Beach Harbor Maintenance Dredging Project (Maintenance, Florida…

Specialty marine contractor J.F. Brennan Company, Inc. announced it has finalized a deal to acquire the assets of Infrastructure Alternatives, Inc.'s (IAI) dredging and dewatering division, effective February 1, 2023.La Crosse, Wis.-headquartered Brennan said environmental services account for 50% of Brennan’s work, and that the purchase brings dewatering, water treatment and treatability testing services into the organization for the first time.“We are excited for IAI’s specialists to join the Brennan family,” said Greg Smith, Brennan’s vice president of environmental services.

As companies race to expand renewable energy and the batteries to store it, finding sufficient amounts of rare earth metals to build the technology is no easy feat. That’s leading mining companies to take a closer look at a largely unexplored frontier – the deep ocean seabed.A wealth of these metals can be found in manganese nodules that look like cobblestones scattered across wide areas of deep ocean seabed. But the fragile ecosystems deep in the oceans are little understood…

Vietnam has conducted a major expansion of dredging and landfill work at several of its South China Sea outposts in the second half of this year, signaling an intent to significantly fortify its claims in the disputed waterway, a U.S. think tank reported on Wednesday.Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said the work in the Spratly Islands, which are also claimed by China and others, had created roughly 420 acres (170 hectares) of new land and brought…

For 21 years, Fort Prinzenstein's caretaker James Ocloo Akorli has watched the Gulf of Guinea's tempestuous waters eat away at both his livelihood and his heritage.The 18th century Danish citadel, set along Ghana's palm-fringed coastline, was once the last stop for captured Africans before they were forced onto slave ships bound for the Americas.Today, three-quarters of the UNESCO World Heritage site has been swallowed by the sea."There have been mornings after a storm when I have come to find large parts of the fort have just disappeared…

Freshwater ecosystems are threatened by a host of environmental stressors from human activities. Among the most insidious and impactful of these is invasion by non-native species.Over the past two centuries, established populations of nearly 190 non-native species of invertebrates, fishes, plants and microbes have been discovered in the Great Lakes basin. They were introduced through several sources and pathways including canals, pet release, bait bucket dumping, aquaculture escapes…

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District began construction of an underwater sill October 11, 2022, across the bed of the Mississippi River channel to prevent further upriver progression of salt water from the Gulf of Mexico.The Mississippi River’s volume of water has fallen to a level that allows salt water to intrude upstream. Saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico moves upriver in a wedge shape that may stretch up approximately 20 miles from the bottom to the surface of the river.To stop the salt water from moving upriver and reduce the risk to freshwater intakes…

When compared to other major river navigation routes around the world, the St. Lawrence River is a favored waterway.It flows from the mouth of Lake Ontario, at an altitude of 250 meters. From its source to the Gulf, the river travels 1,197 kilometers, and is fed by several tributaries including the Ottawa, Richelieu, Saint-François and Saguenay rivers.But the effects of climate change are being felt. The marine industry is adapting. It is currently embarking on a shift towards…