Learning from each other, consult one another, and further develop innovative ideas together: these are the objectives of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed today. Niedersachsen Ports (NPorts) Emden, the TU Delft, and five additional ports came together at the “Workshop on Dredging and Surveying” to jointly tackle the challenges of sludge deposits, sufficient water depths for ships, plus the development of automated processes. These partners include the Port of Antwerp-Bruges (POAB), Groningen Seaports, the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), Harwich Haven Authority (HHA), the Port of Rotterdam (PoR), and the Delft University of Technology, Faculty Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Department Hydraulic Engineering, Section Rivers, Ports & Waterways and Dredging Engineering (TUD).
Autonomous Dredging Within the Port Basin
To be navigable, a well-approachable port with efficient cargo handling requires that port to have a minimum depth. But the natural deposit of sludge and sediments always poses challenges for a safe nautical depth. So, in order to keep the port navigable, the Port of Emden has been working on optimizing innovative dredge processes for more than 25 years now. Particularly the research project AMISIA for the development of an autonomous dredge vessel, has yielded great progress. The MoU gives NPorts the opportunity to thematically network and propel innovative ideas. The project team is optimistically looking forward to this intense exchange with the other partners: “We are excited to share our years of experience with the new partners, and to learn from their wealth of experience, as well” explains Ms. Bärbel Amman of NPorts’ branch office Emden.
The MoU’s primary objective is the mutual exchange, and to gain knowledge about deposits and about the fluid movement of sludge within the port basin. This includes, for instance, new insights into how dredge work and navigation effects the flow characteristics of liquid sludge in the port basin. The partners have also agreed on the exchange of information for the development, investigation, and adaptation of monitoring and survey methods within the individual ports. This serves to support the establishment of a safe nautical depth within the port basin. Another aspect of the MoU is the implementation of new and precise rules for defining a nautically safe port depth during the maintenance of port infrastructure components.
Background
The port company Niedersachsen Ports keeps its ports navigable through frequent port maintenance with the help from dredgers. At the NPorts site Emden, the so-called re-circulation process is applied. In this process, the sludge is passively supplied with oxygen. This keeps it in suspension, which in turn delays the sedimentation process. The suspended liquefied sludge can be navigated by ships. In the early 90s, Rewert Wurpts developed this dredge strategy to keep the sludge in the Port of Emden navigable without the need for removing the material. This strategy has endured to this day: For more than 25 years, NPorts Emden has continued to further develop Wurpts’ dredge technique, and just recently within the context of the research project AMISIA.
AMISIA is tasked to explore, how this process can be optimized and automated even further. The utilization of digital navigation and automated systems may hold the key for a safe deployment within the port.
