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QEC Solent Dredging Project
Scott Cruttenden, Boskalis Westminster Limited

In 2017 the English port of Portsmouth will become the home of two new aircraft carriers. Fareham based Boskalis Westminster Ltd were responsible for widening and deepening the port and the entrance channel. The main challenge involved detecting and removing large quantities of obstructions and unexploded ordnance (UXO).

The local project team developed advanced equipment for this work in collaboration with colleagues from UXO detection and clearance specialists within the wider Royal Boskalis Westminster group.

The navigation channel was too narrow and shallow for the aircraft carriers and needed to be widened from 200 to 500 meters and deepened to 11 meters. The inner harbour and the turning basin were also deepened. A large proportion of the dredging work, which involved a volume of 3.2 million cubic meters, was executed by the Boskalis trailing suction hopper dredger Shoalway and the backhoe dredger Manu Pekka.