Time for the next Whitby Harbor dredging campaign

Another round of dredging along the Whitby Harbor in North Yorkshire is now underway.

The harbor has its own dredger, the ‘Sandsend’ who was converted from a dumb barge to the split hopper in 2003.

The dredger was the first of its kind and had an extensive modification in 2016. A Hitachi long reach excavator was mounted on the vessel and two hydraulically operated spud legs.

Now, the ‘Sandsend’ maintains the depths of the channels and harbors at Whitby and Scarborough. The channel depth within Whitby is maintained where possible at a depth of 1.4 meters below chart datum.

Dredging is required to remove silt and sand at the bottom of the harbors. As the silt and sand wash downstream in Whitby and through the harbor mouth in Scarborough, sediment fills channels and harbors and needs to be regularly removed.