A dredging campaign to keep Port Taranaki's shipping channels clear for trade began on Monday, February 22.
The biennial maintenance dredging work is expected to be completed over eight weeks. Initial surveying of the area, to determine the dredging locations and likely volume of material to be removed, was completed in late January and early February.
It will be the second dredging campaign carried out at Port Taranaki by Albatros, a trailing suction hopper dredger that is owned and operated by Netherlands-based Dutch Dredging.
Albatros replaced the decommissioned Pelican and proved more efficient and effective in 2019, cutting four weeks off the previous campaign duration.
The captured material will be dropped at sites within consented areas.
Port Taranaki engineering manager Ludo Galliegue said the offshore area is about two kilometres out from the port, and the inshore area is along the coast, about 900 metres off the Todd Energy Aquatic Centre. Following research several years ago, the inshore area was specifically chosen to help replenish the sand on the city's beaches.