Dredged materials from Harwich being used to recharge Cobmarsh Island

Harwich Haven Authority (HHA) recently announced that work continues on the beneficial placement of dredged materials at Cobmarsh Island.

Dredged sand and gravel for this scheme is coming from the €140 million Harwich Haven Channel Deepening Project which is being performed by a joint venture of Dutch dredging contractors, Royal Boskalis Westminster and Van Oord.

Members of the project group, led by the Mersea Harbour Protection Trust, visited the Cobmarsh Island site in late 2021 to review progress of the recharge. They were happy to report that the placement was going well and the dredged materials were of ‘good quality.’

The recharge of Cobmarsh Island commenced in mid-November after the hopper dredger Sospan Dau successfully completed the Tollesbury Wick work.

According to HHA, this beneficial placement project that will recharge areas around Mersea will continue throughout the first quarter of 2022.

The placing of 48,000m3 (115,000 tonnes) of dredged material to Cobmarsh is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2021, after which the work will move to Old Hall Point. Placement of approx. 40,000m3 (96,000 tonnes) of dredged sand and gravel at Old Hall Point will be complete by the end of January 2022.