BREAKING NEWS: Boskalis’ TSHD Shoalway begins Dublin Harbor capital dredging

Dublin Port Company (DPC) said that the Dublin Harbor Capital Dredging Project is about to begin. 

According to DPC, the dredging operations will start this week, subject to suitable weather conditions. The dredging campaign is scheduled to last for four to six weeks and will end before the closed period March 31, 2026. 

The areas to be dredged during the first campaign of the Dublin Harbor Capital Dredging Project is focused on the Navigation Channel between the entrance to Alexandra Basin West and the Western Oil Jetty. The maximum volume of material to be loaded and dumped is 164,000m3 in accordance with the permitted quantity in condition A.1 of the Dumping at Sea Permit. 

The capital dredging campaign will be undertaken by Irish Dredging Ltd, a subsidiary of international dredging company Boskalis.

DPC said that the first dredging campaign will be carried out using the trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) Shoalway and the backhoe dredger Odin.

The material to be dredged consists of a mixture of clay, silt, sand, gravel and cobbles. The dredged sediments will be disposed of at the existing licensed offshore disposal site located at the entrance to Dublin Bay to the west of the Burford Bank, (6.75 km from the lighthouse at the end of the Great South Wall).

Sediment sampling and analysis has shown that the sediments to be dredged are suitable for disposal at sea (Class 1 uncontaminated, no biological effects likely).