Work has begun to dredge Dublin's Alexandra Basin as part of the capital dredging program that is scheduled to be completed by March.
Phase one of the port's "Masterplan 2012-2040", the dredging will permit much larger and deeper draft cargo ships and cruise ships to enter the port.
The Dublin Port Company said Royal Boskalis had been appointed to carry out a maintenance dredging campaign to re-establish the ruling depth of -7.8 metres chart datum for up to four weeks from mid-September.
Local media noted the Belgium-flagged Minerva, a 3,500-cubic-metre TSHD had started operations in Dublin Bay.
The 2016-built dredger operated by New Waves Solutions, a subsidiary of Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering (DEME), was working consistently off the Dublin Bay buoy.
The work is expected to involve moving loaded material out to sea, where it will be dumped in Dublin Bay.
Under the terms of the dumping permit, a maximum of 8,760,000 tonnes of dredged material may be dumped at sea up until the end of March 2021.
The Alexandra Basin Redevelopment project involves the construction of three kilometres of quay walls, deepening of the harbour basin and channel to accommodate larger seagoing vessels, and works associated with the conservation of the port's Victorian industrial heritage.
