Desilting Solutions was engaged by Port of Townsville to undertake targeted dredging works adjacent to berthing pockets within the port. Critical to these works was the need to accommodate ongoing shipping movements and hence to have a manageable mobilisation and demobilisation timeframe.
Silt build up had occurred adjacent to berthing pockets which had resulted in the accumulation of an embankment which encroached into the berthing pockets resulting in clearance issues with shipping movements.
As part of the works the Port was eager to try out GeoTubes for the first time and understand the management thereof in terms of both polymer dosing and effluent water clarity.
Two methods of spoil management were trialled, and these included:
- The conventional method of pumping slurry directly into a hopper barge which would be emptied by the port’s own slurry pumps to a suitable spoil location.
- Pumping the slurry into GeoTubes housed in half-height shipping containers positioned on a barge.
