CARP Continues Dredging at Martín García Channel

The Rio de la Plata Port Administrator Commission (CARP), a bi-national commission between Argentina and Uruguay, continued dredging at the Martín García Channel as planned, it said in early August. CARP President Felipe Michelini said the project has been running as expected. CARP awarded a Boskalis consortium the $128.9 million project on February 1. The consortium includes Boskalis International B.V, and DEME Group’s Dredging International, for a five-year term. Works for the first phase of the project began in April this year and may last until April 2019, CARP estimated. The five-year contract may be extended for another five-year timeline, CARP said. Dredging should bring the channel’s depth to 38 feet at its hard bottom for the next 10 years, keeping navigability at the channel. The deal covers the channels of the La Plata and the Uruguay Rivers between kilometers 37 in Barra del Farallón and kilometer 0 in the Uruguay River. In July, the two-company consortium started removing sediment from the hard bottom areas. CARP expect the increased depths to allow larger vessels to use the channel. The project’s operations headquarters is based in the Uruguayan city of Colonia del Sacramento.
Ecuador Dredges Local Guayas River

The Ecuadorian Navy Dredging Service, SERDRA, began work leading to dredging of the 389-kilometer (242-mile) long Guayas River in early August, it said. SERDRA’s director, Carlos Ruales, estimated the project should be completed in 24 months, as it signed a contract with the city hall of Guayas. “We’re within the contract’s schedule, and we guarantee we’ll complete the project in two years,” Ruales said. The executive said topographic, bathymetry, geotechnical, geophysics and hydrology studies have already been concluded. SERDRA expects to extract about 4.5 million cubic meters (5.9 million cubic yards) of sediments out of the El Palmar islet, located off the coast of Guayaquil. SERDRA, which will perform the dredging services, will also install 10.5 kilometers (6.5 miles) of tubes to transport the sediments extracted from El Palmar. Dredging should begin in about six months, after tubes are installed, estimated César Barros, planning chief at SERDRA.