Excavating News

When construction work began on a new arts center in Newport, south Wales, in 2002, the builders on site could scarcely have imagined what they would dig up. While excavating the foundations on the banks of the River Usk, a section of a medieval wooden ship was uncovered which had been perfectly preserved by the river’s waterlogged silt. Archaeologists were called in and it soon became clear the vessel was extraordinary.This was not a coastal sailing boat that would have plied the Severn estuary up to the 19th century.

Egypt is working to improve the Suez Canal by making an additional 10 kilometers accessible to two-way traffic, while widening and deepening another 30 kilometers, the chairman of the authority managing the waterway said on Tuesday.Suez Canal Authority Chairman Osama Rabie, giving the first news conference on the expansion which began in June, said it would be too expensive to widen the entire length of the waterway linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.However, the two-way portion would be lengthened to 85 kilometers (53 miles) from 75 kilometers…

Plans to convert the century-old Port of Fort Pierce into a repair and refit facility for the global fleet of megayachts and large sailing yachts are moving full speed ahead.After a lengthy permitting and review process, Derecktor Shipyards has been granted approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners and the City of Fort Pierce to begin construction of its newest shipyard – Derecktor Ft.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will soon begin work on two important maintenance projects at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Port officials say they do not foresee any interruption of services during the construction. The South Jetty, located at the north end of Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, will be restored to its original profile and cross section. A notice to proceed was issued to the contractor in October 2020. The work is expected to begin in February 2021 and the anticipated completion date is September 2021.

The Swedish East Indiaman Götheborg will sail again with support from the shipping agency Greencarrier Group, which has announced that it will take the full operational and financial responsibility for the ship for the next two years.The Nordic's largest privately-owned transport company said in a press release that it is underwriting the sailing of the East Indiaman Götheborg replica from its home at the Port of Gothenburg.According to the sources, the ship is a copy of the East Indiaman that ran aground in 1745 and sank at Hunnebådan at the entrance to the port. In 1986, a team of marine archaeologists began excavating the original…

Van Oord executes several contracts in the Caspian Sea region with a total value of more than 500 million US $. During the visit of the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to Kazakhstan on Wednesday 2 December 2015 Van Oord announced the award of several contracts in the Caspian Sea. The first project comprises the dredging of a 68-kilometre-long access channel to a new cargo offloading facility to be operated by TenizService. Four cutter suction dredgers are removing a total of some 17 million cubic metres of soil in shallow water. enable the expansion of the Prorva port to help facilitate the growth of Kazakhstan’s oil and gas industry. In the second project Van Oord is performing the preparatory work for the installation of two pipelines in the same region.

The mantra of recent times has been the worldwide trend to ‘mega’. Mega container ships created the need for mega ports which required mega dredging projects. These in turn demand mega dredging vessels. All this is true but disregards another development: the consolidation of the major dredging contractors into larger companies with long-term strategies that have resulted in diversification. Today’s major dredging contractors do more than dredge. They are partners in the development of a project.

Stretching across oceans and continents, approximately 32,000 km of new pipelines are constructed each year forming an industry worth $28 billion. The installation of pipelines on the seabed require engineers to develop innovative technologies and methods to inspect, repair and maintain pipelines at depths sometimes reaching 1,000m. The Deep Excavation System (DES) is a new, cost-saving technique designed for dredging at great water depths for use in the offshore pipeline industry. For new laid pipelines, large changes in seabed height can create free spans which can lead to stresses in the pipe. For decades, Subsea Rock Installation…

The U.S. Coast Guard captain overseeing cleanup of oil spilled from a pipeline rupture that closed two California state beaches and fouled offshore waters near Santa Barbara said on Thursday it may take months to restore the area to its natural condition. Up to 2,500 barrels (105,000 gallons) of crude petroleum, according to latest estimates, gushed onto San Refugio State Beach and into the Pacific about 20 miles (32 km) west of Santa Barbara on Tuesday when an underground pipeline that runs along the coastal highway burst. As much as a fifth of the amount was believed to have reached the ocean, leaving oil slicks that stretched for more than 9 miles (15 km) along the coast.

Over the past few years, Van Oord has developed a new technique for dredging at great water depths. This Deep Excavation System (DES) is an innovative method to prepare a sea bottom profile for installing offshore pipelines. The system has been patented by Van Oord. Uneven sea beds are traditionally prepared for laying offshore pipelines by installing large volumes of rock. As an alternative to this Subsea Rock Installation (SRI) method, Van Oord has applied the Deep Excavation System in Australia and Norway. On these projects, excavating several thousand cubic metres of hard and soft soil made the installation of hundreds of thousand tonnes of rock unnecessary. Combining the excavating system and SRI can be a cost-effective solution for sea bed preparation.

The opening of the world's first mine in the deep ocean comes closer to reality as Canadian mining company, Nautilus Minerals, signs an agreement with the Papua New Guinea Government to start excavating an area of seabed. The project will extract ores of copper, gold and other valuable metals from a depth of 1,500m, The mine will target an area of hydrothermal vents where superheated, highly acidic water emerges from the seabed, where it encounters far colder and more alkaline seawater, forcing it to deposit high concentrations of minerals. The result is that the seabed is formed of ores that are far richer in gold and copper than ores found on land.

Reef Subsea Dredging and Excavation (D&E) report they have secured a number of substantial contracts in the Middle-East and Asia Pacific as they continue to grow its global footprint. The Middle-East contracts will involve two teams from the company’s UK workforce managing subsea excavation work in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The work in the Al Khafji field in Saudi Arabia, on behalf of Technip and Khafji Joint Operations (KJO), is a shore approach cable excavation in shallow waters. Specialist personnel will also be deployed for the post-lay burial of the 165mm composite cable.

The St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum’s Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP), Director, Chuck Meide, made some key discoveries recently in London, England. Meide spent January 14-17, 2013 examining documents in the United Kingdom’s National Archives (formerly the Public Records Office), in an attempt to learn as much as possible about a shipwreck believed to be a British Loyalist Ship that was fleeing Charleston, South Carolina in 1782, currently referred to as Storm Wreck, which St. Augustine Lighthouse Archaeologists have been excavating offshore. “Once entrenched in the Archives, I was hard at work each day,” said Meide.

Transnet awards AECOM a US$3.4-million contract to initiate the design of the Durban Dig Out Port in South Africa. The project is a brownfield redevelopment for a new seaport complex to be built by excavating nearshore vacated land that will serve as a gateway for containers destined for the Greater Durban Area and the Gauteng Industrial Complex. It will also accommodate the region’s liquid bulk and motor vehicle handling. As part of the contract, AECOM will provide concept and pre-feasibility design services for the new port and container terminals, including all associated infrastructure relating to its operation. A critical aspect of the design will be ensuring the sustainability of the port throughout the construction phase as well as all of the operational phases of its development.

ROHR, an Ellicott Dredge Enterprises, LLC Unit, Acquires IDRECO Sand and Gravel Dredge Design & Manufacturing Operation. Ellicott Dredge Enterprises (EDE) is pleased to announce that its subsidiary Rohr International Dredge Holdings, Inc. acquired the principle business assets of IDRECO GmbH , including its current backlog, inventory and all associated intellectual property (IPR), on June 29, 2012. IDRECO, which is based in Heerenberg, the Netherlands, approximately 100 km from Amsterdam…

Panama Canal Completes Major Step in Expansion Program. In another important milestone of its Expansion Program, the Panama Canal Authority announced the completion of phase three of the dry excavation project in the construction of the Pacific Access Channel (PAC). The Pacific Access Channel will connect the third set of locks with the Culebra Cut and Gatun Lake. The third phase of the PAC – costing $36.6 million including design, contractors and management – consisted of excavating 8.2 million cubic meters of materials…

Panama Canal Authority project to deepen the navigational channel in Gatun Lake is 40 percent complete - ahead of schedule and within budget. The project's goal is to deepen the channel in the Lake, the large, man-made body of water that all ships navigate when transiting the Canal. Among the many benefits, when complete, the deepening will provide an additional meter of water storage, a 45 percent increase. This would minimize future draft restrictions, enhancing reliability and improving vessel safety, and accommodate future demand for drinking water.

Exhibiting the cumulative strength of its vast organization, two Bollinger shipyards teamed on an innovative project to increase the dredging depth of the Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel Co. dustpan dredge, Wallace McGeorge, from 62-ft. to 75-ft., enabling it to dredge at higher river stages and dispatch sooner on a falling river. To complete the task, Bollinger Quick Repair, Harvey, La., fabricated and installed 45-ton, 36- by 20-ft., port and starboard sections to the horn of the dredge, increasing the vessel's overall length from 252.5 to 288.5 ft. The shipyard then installed a new 46-ton, 40-ft. wide by 15- by 30-ft. high, A-frame which it had pre-fabricated for the dredge.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that an excavator was a harbor worker under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) when he was killed while excavating a utility line trench as part of a project to renovate three submarine berths at Pearl Harbor. The work was being done ashore, but directly adjacent to, the berths. The court held that the term “harbor worker” includes workers directly involved in the construction of a maritime facility, even though their specific job duties are not maritime in nature. Source: HK Law

Shell is planning to begin its Beaufort Sea oil exploration this summer, a state official said. The initial work will involve excavating "well cellars" from below the sea floor. The cellars, also known as glory holes, protect well equipment such as blowout preventers from ice scouring. Shell plans to start excavations in August and work only during open-water seasons -- before the ice comes in, he said. The company has acquired one drill rig, the Kullu, but Shell officials told him they will need a second drilling vessel as backup, Hutmacher said. (Source: Anchorage Daily News – www.and.com)

A Unified Incident Command (UIC) comprised of the U.S. Coast Guard (with coordination from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP), the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) and Chevron Products Co. continue to respond to a crude oil spill in the Arthur Kill. The total volume of crude oil spilled is unchanged from the prior estimate of approximately 31,000 gallons. Approximately 96,000 gallons of oil-water mixture have been recovered and are currently being stored. Approximately 145,620 pounds of oil absorbents and other contaminated solids have been removed during the clean-up.

Two Bollinger shipyards have teamed to increase the dredging depth of the Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel Co. dustpan dredge, Wallace Mcgeorge, from 62-ft. to 75-ft., enabling it to dredge at higher river stages and dispatch sooner on a falling river. In the process, Bollinger Quick Repair, Harvey, La., fabricated and installed 45-ton, 36-ft. by 20-ft., port and starboard sections to the horn of the dredge, increasing the vessel’s overall length from 252.5 feet to 288.5 ft. The shipyard then installed a new 46-ton, 40-ft. wide by 15-ft. by 30-ft. high, A-frame which it had pre-fabricated for the dredge. The A-frame, which more closely resembles an inverted “U”…

Naval Sea Systems Command divers, along with National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration divers lifted a piece of naval history out of 240 feet of water off the coast of Cape Hatteras Monday. One hundred forty years after it's sinking, the Union ironclad Monitor is still making headlines. The 30-ton steam engine is once again in the spotlight as a $4.9 million recovery project successfully surfaces with the engine intact. Good weather conditions supported the initial lift of the intact engine. A 90-ton recovery structure was built to bring the engine to the surface. Divers rigged hydraulic hoses to rams and tested their assemblies. Divers verified lift points around the engine and lifted it approximately 24 inches using hydraulic rams at 1930 feet.