Machinery put in place for harbour dredging to start
DREDGING work at Oamaru Harbour is set to start today or tomorrow, the Waitaki District Council has confirmed.
A 40tonne excavator with a 16m reach was delivered to a site near the Oamaru Breakwater in preparation for the work, which will also involve the use of a second 30tonne excavator and a 35tonne dump truck.
It will be the first time since late 2011 the harbour has been dredged.
As part of stage one, which will cost an estimated $180,000, a 120m by 40m area of the harbour channel will be dredged to a depth of 3m at low tide, which will involve removing about 7000cu m of material.
Council projects and assets officer Grant Rhodes said the larger of the two excavators would create a causeway which would increase the height the digger would operate from and dig from there.
The material dredged from the harbour would then be used to provide access for contractors to complete maintenance work on the breakwater.
‘‘This time we’re going to put a lot of the dredgings in the back of the breakwater so we can create some access up to do some rock armouring. That’s going to save us a lot of doublingup.’’
The first stage is expected to be completed in December.
A further 18,000cu m will be dredged to create a 5m channel as part of stage two, which is scheduled to start in March or April at a cost yet to be determined.
The project has come about after two incidents that involved vessels attempting to access the harbour got into difficulty.
Last October, an experienced Oamaru charter boat skipper called on authorities to dredge the harbour, after he helped disabled Dunedin yacht Katherine Johnstone
after it struck rocks near Moeraki and called for help to get into the harbour.
On February 9 last year, the Jane Marie
foundered after attempting to enter Oamaru Harbour, prompting the ORC’s harbourmaster to call for signs at the harbour to warn of the ‘‘inherent dangers’’ of entering and also for formal consideration of the ‘‘restoration of the channel shape, alignment and depth’’ at the harbour entrance.
In February 2012, the Otago Daily Times reported the council used to put aside $100,000 a year for dredging work, but stopped during the 201213 financial year.