Numerical models are often used to predict the magnitude and behaviour of dredge plumes to help assess and manage any environmental risks. To provide a realistic prediction of plumes resulting from dredging, numerical models require information on the rate at which sediment is suspended by the dredging, along with the characteristics of the suspended sediment. Previous investigations have shown that in the marine environment, fine-grained sediment suspended by natural processes and dredge-related activities are typically present as aggregated particles known as flocs. This article considers the importance of including the process of flocculation in dredge plume models.

Steel and concrete are the most common materials used in quay wall structures. The application of these materials contributes to a high emission of greenhouse gasses such as CO2 and the materials make up a large part of the construction costs. This graduate research examines whether alternative quay wall structures have the potential to be more cost effective and more sustainable compared to conventional structures for inland ports. An innovative quay wall of reinforced soil was designed and quay elements implemented to make a quay wall structure. A comparison was then made based on the criteria costs and sustainability between the innovative quay design and two conventional quays.

Green solutions in ports, waterways and coastal projects have increasingly become available thanks to many years of research and pioneering efforts in practice. These sustainable and/or nature-based solutions have shown to be good alternatives for classic solutions, but application is far from mainstream yet. One of the major hurdles is the lack of access of private capital to finance these kinds of solutions despite the strong interest of capital markets in green infrastructure opportunities. Identifying the hurdles and paving a way forward to overcome these hurdles could therefore help to increase the uptake of those green solutions.

The planet is facing enormous challenges caused by human activity, increasing the vulnerability of communities and ecosystems to the forces of nature. This is worsened by the effects of climate change, which is threatening the world’s coastal defences. Van Oord has responded to these challenges by developing the Climate Adaptation Action Plan. The plan is designed to encourage meaningful dialogue between stakeholders in order to provide ready-to-scale marine solutions that help increase the resilience of the communities and ecosystems of coastal areas.

As IADC celebrates 50 years of its quarterly journal, it seemed only fitting to speak to its longest standing editor, Marsha Cohen, who stood at the helm of Terra et Aqua for 25 years. We caught up with her at her home in Florida to talk about the highs, the lows and a good dose of serendipity.

During his distinguished career as professor of Coastal Engineering at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Kees d’Angremond served as head of Hydraulic and Offshore Engineering, chair of the department of Hydraulic and Geotechnical Engineering, and dean of the faculty of Civil Engineering from 1989 to 2001. Now professor emeritus, he still works as an advisor and independent consultant. We invited Kees to a conversation with Stefan Aarninkhof, professor of Coastal Engineering and chair of the department of Hydraulic Engineering at TU Delft, to talk about their careers in the dredging industry and the role of academia in the industry today.

The use of nature and natural processes is an innovative way to increase water safety and create added value through nature development and recreation. This exploratory study provides an initial inventory of the impact and costs of existing Building with Nature projects in the Netherlands. It also includes an analysis of the decision-making process in choosing this type of project and identifies success factors. Building with Nature projects deliver added value but often also involve additional costs compared to traditional reinforcements. These costs give an indication of what we as a society are prepared to pay for the development of nature and recreation as part of hydraulic engineering projects.

Climate change and increasing environmental damage are demonstrating the urgency of transformation to a sustainable global economic model. The implementation of the sustainable development concept tends to narrow to integrating environmental, social, and economic concerns in the decision making. In economics, the definition of such concerns is an externality that represents the divergence between social and private costs. This study investigates the available sustainable asset valuation methods that can include the externalities materialised in maritime infrastructure projects and compares them based on economic, social and environmental criteria.

In today’s world, expectations for sustainable practices are fast becoming the norm. Countries, the public and communities are requesting transparency, the application of higher environmental standards and involvement in decision-making processes when new developments in a marine environment are proposed. Marine infrastructure projects not only require environmental permits and works licences to be in place, they also need a Social Licence to Operate (SLO). This article describes the social licence in this fast-changing context of information and technology, and explores tools that can be used to develop a ‘responsible project’ and provide a successful and sustainable outcome for society and the environment.

Taking a fresh look at traditional, unsustainable coastal defence methods. A pioneering project discovers some inspiring concepts, including using biogenic reefs for ecosystem-based flood defence.

‘It’s clear that the solutions that we employed in our approach to engineering in the 20th century are not aging well.’ As National Lead for the Engineering With Nature initiative, Dr Todd Bridges discusses how we must have a diversified solution set in which nature is a part of the solution.

Over the past decades, there has been a growing interest in exploring innovative ways to minimise the environmental footprint of coastal developments and in nature-based approaches for shoreline protection. At Mubarraz Island near Abu Dhabi (UAE), an international oil company beneficially reused ~12 million m³ of dredged material to protect pipelines, construct a causeway and create mangrove habitat to manage coastal erosion. This ‘Working with Nature’ approach has provided a cost-effective nature-based solution for shoreline protection, with added benefits for biodiversity conservation.

In June 2019, the research team of the LIFE MARINAPLAN PLUS project began operating the first-of-a-kind demonstration plant installation at the harbour entrance of Marina di Cervia (Italy). Fulfilling the project’s objective to apply at industrial scale a reliable technology for the sustainable management of sediment in marine infrastructures, this technology prevents harbour silting through the use of submerged devices called ‘ejectors’ installed on the seabed.

Stéphanie Groen works as the Director of Coastal & Climate Change, Asia for Aurecon. Based in Singapore, she was appointed to the position at the beginning of 2020. Previously, Stéphanie was involved in marine and environmental projects for more than 15 years with DHI and her education is in civil engineering and business administration. IADC also knows Stéphanie as the winner of the Young Author Award in 2007. More recently, she was appointed as a committee member to the prestigious FIDIC Sustainable Development Committee. We were interested to hear more from Stéphanie – her views on sustainability, the collaboration with the dredging industry through FIDIC and what her new role can mean for sustainable water infrastructure projects.

At present too little use is made of the opportunities that the design and construction of land reclamation offer for the underground storage and recovery of fresh water. The managed aquifer recharge systems in the coastal dunes of the Netherlands are a good example of successful subsurface water storage. And it is to be expected that the sandy deposits of land reclamations could serve a similar purpose. This in turn will contribute to a sustainable development of land reclamations.

Armed with degrees in both Marine Engineering and Engineering Economics as well as 35 years – and counting – of experience at the Panama Canal Authority, Ilya Espino de Marotta has blasted through the glass ceiling wearing a pink hard hat. Amongst the diverse roles she has under her belt, ranging from Marine Engineer in the shipyard to Vice President for Transit Business, Ilya has notably led the Canal’s expansion as head engineer and now oversees operations from the second highest position at the authority.

‘Water is more than a toilet, tap, dam, dyke or levee, it's an enabler.’

Can nature-based solutions be mainstream solutions? Nature-based solutions have obvious advantages but have not been embraced at wider scale. The barriers which can hinder wide-scale application and the topic’s relevance to the dredging community are discussed.

The Bacton Sandscaping scheme is a large-scale beach nourishment designed to protect the Bacton Gas Terminal from cliff and beach erosion while also reducing flood and erosion risk to the communities of Bacton and Walcott, buying the time they need for adaptation to coastal change.

This study examines which and, if possible, how much more ecosystem services are provided by the most recent nature inspired coastal protection project Prins Hendrik Zanddijk, in comparison with a traditional concrete and asphalt construction.

After 30 years at Witteveen+Bos, Henk Nieboer has moved on from the engineering and consultancy firm to focus his expertise into his current roles as director of EcoShape and founder of Adaelta.

CEDA’s Working Group on Beneficial Use aims to inspire sediment stakeholders and practitioners by describing the importance of sediments in the context of sustainable development and sharing a curated selection of case studies.

Following the Building with Nature concept, a pilot study was conducted introducing finegrained dredged sediments as a semicontinuous source of mud into a shallow tidal channel, naturally dispersing sediment to nearby mudflats and salt marshes.

In collaboration with the Natuurmonumenten (the Dutch Society for the Preservation of Nature), Boskalis constructed the Marker Wadden. The archipelago situated within the Markermeer enables processes which revitalise the natural ecology.

Ecologist Patrick Meire has been researching the Scheldt for decades in the hope of implementing solutions which undo the damage caused by humans, industry and natural processes.

To connect Scandinavia with Germany, the world’s longest immersed tunnel will be built. The Fehmarnbelt will close a major gap in the European transport network while fostering the development of new nature and recreational landscapes.

Mark van Koningsveld’s quest for a sustainable dredging industry takes to the front of the classroom as he begins his new role as professor of Ports & Waterways at TU Delft.

A newly appointed Professor Emeritus at TU Delft and former project manager at the Port of Rotterdam Authority, Tiedo Vellinga discusses his role as a bridge between academia and practice and its impact on the direction of port development.

The International Association of Ports and Harbors’s Patrick Verhoeven discusses the major topics facing the world’s ports as they prepare for the future as well as ways ports can adapt to the ever-growing scale increase of ships.

A paradigm shift is being increasingly embraced within the dredging industry. The traditional engineering approach is becoming a holistic approach in which the ecosystem is leading and values for people, profit and planet are integrated in an interdisciplinary manner.

The growing awareness of the need for diversified energy sources has collided with the maritime industry. Research initiative JOULES was created to assess the viability of a vessel being 100 per cent green by increasing efficiency and reducing emissions.

An ecosystem services assessment of Port Botany’s expansion identifies the project’s economic, environmental and socio-economic impacts for a universal stakeholder guide which ensures sustainable development.

Building with Nature is an innovative approach that combines natural processes with innovative engineering methods to realise sustainable projects. Permeable dams are being utilised as part of a Building with Nature solution to help restore the eroding mangrove-mud coast of the Demak district in central Java, Indonesia.

Revitalising and redesigning inland water transportation routes and recreational waterfronts transforms them into vital and viable economic and social engines.

The use of flexible and sustainable-solutions infrastructures should be promoted – though initially more costly, these may prove economical over the whole life cycle of a port.

Wetlands are areas of marsh, fen, peat land or water. They are among the most important and productive ecosystems on earth. Human life depends on a complete and fully functioning ecosystem.

Efforts to increase understanding of sustainable development of water resources remains an urgent issue in Canada and worldwide.

Compacting sand into tubes made from geotextiles is an important innovation in hydraulic engineering techniques for sustainable construction work.

Registration open for the 2-day course Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure; 13-14 December in Oxfordshire (UK).

IADC Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Terra et Aqua!

Onsite AND online course Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure scheduled for March and April 2022.

Following on from the success of previous courses Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure, CEDA and IADC have decided to schedule another one in December 2021.

At IADC’s 2nd digital Annual General Meeting, held on 16 September 2021, 4 members of the Sustainability Committee and the Secretary General gave presentations highlighting a number of their activities.

Following on from the success of the 1st online course Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure held in December 2020, CEDA and IADC have decided to schedule a second course in March 2021.

March 10: panel session hosted by IADC, CEDA and PIANC at the UN Science, Policy and Business Forum on the Environment in Nairobi. The UN Science, Policy and Business Forum on the Environment will convene its second global session in Nairobi, Kenya, from March 8-10, 2019 in the lead up to the Fourth Session of the UN Environment Assembly. The forum’s work is aligned with the theme of the assembly: Innovative solutions for environme

The book Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure gives state-of-the-art guidance on how to design, implement and manage a water infrastructure project with a dredging component.

A joint study to explore financing of green coastal, river and port projects. Solutions are available, have been tested and are economically viable.

The book Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure gives state-of-the-art guidance on how to design, implement and manage a water infrastructure project with a dredging component to project owners, regulators, consultants, designers and contractors.

There are opportunities to develop and implement new solutions for maritime infrastructure challenges. In addition to technical-economical values there is a big commitment to create both environmental and social values. To take the industry to the next level it is necessary to attract students and young professionals to the industry to ensure all externalities are taken into consideration from the onset of a project. The “Social Benefits Wheel” is a tool that can help track the degree to which a project or programme is attaining its social development targets and goals.

In our day to day lives most of us are not aware of how many industries rely on sand as a part of their working process. The amount of sand consumed has dramatically increased over the last few years and this can be largely contributed to the world wide construction boom. How is this going to affect us in the future?

A contribution by Polite Laboyrie, President of CEDA, to the Paving the Waves 2020 conference is linked to the IADC-CEDA book Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure. The book and also Mr Laboyrie’s presentation presents guidance to achieve dredging projects that fulfil their primary functional requirement, while adding value to the (natural and socio-economic) system.

Professor Stefan Aarninkhof shares his experiences and insights about the book “Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure”

Serge de Gheldere is Founder and CEO of Futureproofed and a well-known and inspirational speaker about the exciting prospects of a fossil-free, circular economy. In his presentation, “Future and Innovation” he educated the participants about climate change aspects and developments.

On 6 June 2018, sixty young professionals from IADC’s member companies came together at Hilvaria Studio’s for the association’s second annual networking event, Peering into Dredging’s Future.

This webinar is especially of interest for policymakers, infrastructure developers, investors and other stakeholders with an interest in green infrastructure. But also for both technical and non-technical professionals in dredging-related industries like consultants and advisors at port and harbour authorities, offshore companies and other organisations that execute dredging projects.

In this webinar, the topic of sustainability in dredging will be linked to the Saly Coastal Protection Project in Senegal.