The Elbe river - a life line for Northern Germany: The sense of maintenance dredging on the Elbe and the future requirements for its navigational fairway.
Type:
Presented during:
CEDA Dredging Days 2007 - The Day After we Stop Dredging, Rotterdam
Authors:
Maruðiã N, Wasser- und Schifffahrtsamt Cuxhaven and Iwens C, Nordsee Nassbagger- und Tiefbau, Germany
Abstract: Since the recent opening of the borders with Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, the Elbe River,with the port of Hamburg as its economic epicentre, has increasingly gained in importance. Throughout the centuries, dredging activities aimed at deepening and maintaining the navigation channel in the Elbe have been of the utmost importance for the assurance of the region's social and economic prosperity. Nowadays it is the responsibility of the Water and Shipping Directorate North (WSD Nord) to develop new concepts for maintenance dredging and future deepening works in the Elbe.
It is the task of the dredging industry to deliver the best technical and economic solutions while respecting the needs of the environment. With respect to future maintenance dredging projects, new sediment relocation areas are under investigation. This requires a study of all environmental impacts, with the investigation of pollutants, oxygen concentrations, etc. as well as their overall impact on flora and fauna habitats. Finally the prosperity of the region resides in its ability to adapt and react to the booming global trading situation. The future deepening of the Elbe will be a groundbreaking innovation of environmental and marine engineering. This will be described with the following topics:
-Historic review Historical development on the deepening and maintenance dredging works on the ELBE Trading position of the harbour of Hamburg.
-Current maintenance dredging concept on the Elbe Longer sailing distances and correlation to the TSHD types.
-Pilot tests with water injection dredgers in order to optimize hopper planning
-The future for maintenance dredging on the Elbe New relocation areas under investigation on the Elbe Research programme of the Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG) for new relocation area's and its impact on the habitat of fauna and flora
-The future deepening of the Elbe Licensing process and the time frame (planning)
-Economic benefits and socio-economic impact on the Hamburg metropolitan area
-Hydraulic engineering concepts Dredging techniques.
Keywords: Elbe River, maintenance dredging, deepening the Elbe, river engineering