MarineTraffic Live Map showing dredgers active across the globe

The expanded Panama Canal celebrated its fifth birthday on 26 June this year by allowing even longer vessels to transit its waters. According to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), 96.8% of the world’s fleet of containerships can now transit the 40 km waterway that links the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

In a 14 June statement, ACP said: “Ahead of the fifth anniversary of its expansion, the Panama Canal has increased the maximum allowable length for vessels transiting the Neopanamax Locks. Since May 21, the maximum length overall (LOA) for commercial and non-commercial vessels acceptable for regular transits of the Neopanamax Locks is 370.33 meters (1,215 feet), up from 367.28 meters (1,205 feet).”

These new vessel dimensions have been made possible not through further physical expansion of the network of locks and lakes, but rather the experience gained by the Canal’s team in operating the Neopanamax (new-Panamax size) locks that went into operation five years ago. This experience, supported by trial runs of vessels such as 369-m long container vessels Triton, Talos and Theseus, has given Panama the confidence to allow vessels of this size to transit on a regular basis.

These activities would never have been possible without the considerable earth removal project completed in June 2016. According to Places Journal,150 million m3 of earth was removed by means of blasting, excavating and dredging. 

The Panama Canal – one of the world’s most important waterways in the world –  was possible due to dredging. Rewind the clock nearly 102 years, and in 1914 the canal with its original dimensions had just been completed following the removal of over 100 million m3 of blasted and dredged materials. 

It is just one example of how important dredging is to the maritime industry. In many regions these unobtrusive waterborne work horses are fundamental facilitating world trade, creating port access for vessels and carving out new routes. Not to mention its pivotal role in land reclamation, the most well known being Dubai’s Palm Islands, and beach replenishment and other nature enhancing projects.

According to IHS Markit’s International Dredging Directory 2020, there are currently 1,785 dredgers in the world fleet, with trailing suction hopper dredgers (THSHD) and cutting suction dredgers (CSD) making up the most significant percentage of this figure.

Of this figure, MarineTraffic data reveals that there are 633 active dredgers operating across the globe right now. These are vessels that are IMO registered (100 gt or above) and from which an AIS position has been received in the last six months. 

Of this figure, 25 are reporting as operating in and around the Netherlands. Famed for its low elevation, the North European country’s relationship with water and dredging goes back centuries. Such is its experience with keeping the sea at bay that the Netherlands is considered a dredging powerhouse and its expertise is exported across the world.

Dredgers operating in and around the Port of Rotterdam are a common sight as maintenance dredging is an ongoing activity to ensure adequate depth to accommodate some of the world’s biggest ships. According to a paper published in 2018 by Delft University of Technology and Port of Rotterdam, around 12 to 15 million m3 of silt is dredged annually from the 100 km2 port.

Moving further north and dredging is fundamental to one of the biggest engineering projects in the region. A 18 km-long immersed tunnel is under construction between the Danish island of Lolland and German island of Fehmarn in the Baltic Sea, linking the two countries. To be known as the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link, the work involves digging a 60 m-wide, 16 m-deep and 18 km-long trench under the seabed. In total, around 19 million m3 of stone and stand will be excavated to create the route through which cars and trains will travel.

At time of writing MarineTraffic data revealed that there were 14 dredgers on the Lolland side of the project, most of which were flying under the Dutch flag.

Going further north again east to the Arctic, and at time of writing MarineTraffic shows 13 dredgers active in Russia’s Gulf of Ob where an LNG facility, Arctic LNG 2, is being developed. According to the Barents Observer, dredging began last year and will see “more than 100 million cubic meters of frozen seabed … dug up and removed”. These works are in preparation for the large LNG carriers that will navigate the gulf. 

Russia’s state nuclear power company said: “After the completion of the first stage in 2021, the channel width will increase by 180 meters on the straight section (from 295 meters to 475 meters) and by 278 meters (up to 573 meters) on the turning section. The length of the canal will increase from 48.9 km to 51.6 km, and the depth will be 15.1 meters (in the Baltic altitude system of 1977).

Dredgers are often used to support offshore wind farm development, including seafloor levelling and digging trenches into which the turbines’ cables which connect them to the shore, can be placed – and in certain conditions burying these cables to protect them.

Europe will be keeping dredgers busy over the next few years. According to 4 C Offshore, Germany has 181 offshore wind farm projects of which 28 are currently operating, whilst the UK has 167 offshore wind farm projects of which 39 are currently operating. Another key player in this space is the Netherlands with the same source revealing that it has 131 projects and 11 farms operating.

China is a more recent player in offshore windfarm development, but has made great strides over the past three years. Last year, China Dialogue reported the Global Wind Energy Council as saying, “China accounted for 40% of global added offshore wind capacity in 2019, with a record 2.5 gigawatts (GW), 51% more than the previous year. China now has 23% of the world’s offshore wind capacity.”

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Meanwhile, China has also been actively dredging sand – an integral material in the manufacture of cement, which is required in vast quantities to prop up the country’s urbanisation programme. Reuters reported in 2019 that “Between 2011 and 2013, China used more concrete than the US did in the entire 20th century.”

According to MarineTraffic data, China currently has 48 dredgers operating, 16 of which are located in the East China Sea.

Commentators have also noted that China’s dredgers have been edging closer and closer to Taiwan’s Matsu Islands, and are being used as a new “method of exerting its control over Taiwan — with hundreds of sand dredgers stealing sand from the island’s coastline,” reported Insider in June.

Human’s relationship with oceans and rivers will always be supported by dredging as we use these mighty vessels to both protect us and empower us.