Last Sunday, 8 September, the 16,500 m³ hopper dredger Kaishuu began the relocation of mud from the Port of Hamburg to the North Sea, to buoy E3. Later than ever before. Why is that?
In recent years, sedimentation in the Port of Hamburg has been so severe that we have usually had to start maintaining water depths and relocating sediment to buoy E3 as early as possible, i.e. as early as late June or early July.
However, since the turn of the year 2023/2024, discharge conditions have been significantly better than in the previous, very dry 10 years. In addition, we have consistently utilised the opportunities for increased sediment removal to reduce small-scale sediment cycles – which lead to sediment accumulation in the harbour. Together, these two effects have led to lower overall resedimentation, which is also starting much later in the course of 2024. We can therefore see that the dredging is working, and with improved outflow, sedimentation in Hamburg is decreasing once again.