New research tracking the movement of dredged sediment around Liverpool Bay could save millions of pounds in dredging costs. Each year, sediment must be dredged from the port and deposited elsewhere to maintain access for commercial vessels. But according to the new study by scientists at the National Oceanography Center in Liverpool, the dredged material appears back in the port again within just a few weeks of its removal, carried by sea currents. The team used computer models to predict the movement of a particle of dredged material once it had been deposited in the bay. “It's just like the computer models they use to predict the weather,” said Dr. Alex Souza of the Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC) National Oceanography Centre.