Paraguay Commences Dredging of Paraguay River

The Paraguayan Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) announced in late September the nation’s navigation and ports administration, ANNP, began dredging at the local Paraguay River. The tributary transports about 80 percent of the country’s foreign trade, and is the fifth largest river in South America. Local engineering company Ingeniería de Topografía y Caminos S.A. (T&C S.A.) was awarded the $3.5 million U.S. maintenance dredging project in December last year. MOPC said T&C S.A. is expected to complete the project by March or April 2019. It should extract between 600,000 to 1 million cubic meters (xx to xx cubic yards) of sediment at critical sections of the river. T&C S.A. used its own dredges, as well as leased equipment, including trailing suction hopper dredge Pilcomayo.