Marina dredging consists of maintaining proper channel depth within a marina and is essential for vessels such as yachts, ferries, emergency services, and private boaters navigating a marina. Consistent marina dredging ensures safe passage for boaters both in and out of a marina, keeps the marina operating at maximum capacity year-round, and protects the environment.
Most marinas are typically located along the banks of a river, near a lake, or in a coastal harbor area. Marinas serve as safe havens for boat owners, commercial operators, and charter boat companies that are looking to protect their vessels from swirling winds and pounding waves. Over time, silt, sand, and sediment accumulate throughout a marina as a result of slower water currents, which causes boats to run aground, damaging boat hulls and limiting a vessel’s ability to navigate the marina safely. Rather than ignoring the problem, it is crucial that marina owners act sooner, rather than later.
Dredging helps to improve channel depth by removing organic materials that accumulate inside a marina’s basin. Materials collected from a marina during the dredging process can often be used to replenish the local area beaches.
Over the last several years, we’ve seen a growing number of privately owned and public resort-style marinas emerging that offer one-stop shopping to the casual waterman. These state-of-the-art facilities provide four-star accommodations, fine dining, larger boat slips, yacht detailing services, and fuel pumping stations which generate millions of dollars annually for marina owners and operators.
However, debris such as sediment is known to accumulate over time throughout a marina making it difficult or virtually impossible for boat owners to remove their vessels from the slips. Having a regular dredge maintenance program is important to both marina owners and the customers they serve. Otherwise, marina owners are forced to close boat slips, and unhappy customers take their business elsewhere.
One of the advantages of marina dredging includes the added revenue generated from available boat slips for smaller and larger boats.
As with all successful ventures, satisfied customers will result in a prosperous business.
In addition to enhancing navigation, dredging is vital to maintaining an environmentally safe marina. Routine maintenance dredging has also been known to help improve water quality and environmental conditions. A properly dredged marina reduces the likelihood of boat propellers agitating the ocean floor and clouding the water.
Materials that are collected after dredging should be handled delicately in a manner that does not harm the environment. There are several options available to marina owners and operators when handling dredged material including open discharge, dredged material placement sites, mechanical dewatering, and the use of dewatering tubes.
One of the environmental advantages of owning a dredge includes the ability for a marina operator to determine the speed of dredge production, allowing the dredge to operate at a slower scale. This blocks material from flowing back into marinas that are located near a river that can occur when using a contractor.
The decision to buy a dredge or enlist a contractor will surely depend on the size, location, and application of the marina. If you are dredging your marina annually, you should purchase a dredge to avoid continuous mobilization and demobilization costs. For further information about selecting the proper dredge, contact our team at sales@dredge.com or call +1-410-625-0808.