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CEDA Dredging Days 2021: Sustainable Dredging And Innovation

Promotional banner of the CEDA Dredging Days 2021 (Credit: CEDA)

Tomorrow, another event with a long tradition will start: the CEDA Dredging Days1. Due to the Covid issues, this time, it will be a virtual event, just as a lot of other regular happenings. Hopefully, it will be the last days of this dreadful period. I can’t wait to meet people again in real life. Back at the office, we are slowly starting to get back. But meetings with people far outside the regular circle were difficult. For instance, I was a member of the Technical Paper & Program Committee and the preparation was completely digital.

Home page of your CEDA Dredging Days on the Swapcard platform (Credit: CEDA)

Now, the event itself is also digital. Of course, this is still not the real thing. Having a coffee and a chat in the lobby is a much more enjoyable experience than sitting in front of your screen. I have to say that with the Sawpcard platform2 selected by the organising committee, it is much easier to arrange your own program, adapted to your personal interests. Moreover, it will also facilitate meeting people with the same interest. In a sense, this might be an opportunity to approach those. In the real world, people will not get seated next to you when they have the same interest. And certainly don’t have them captioned on their chest.

Pump design workflow (inspired by Suman Sapkota)

As member of the TPPC, I had the opportunity of a sneak preview of the articles and presentations and I can guarantee there are a lot of interesting sessions. For starters, there are three presentations by my colleagues. Suman Sapkota will have presentation on his research in various novel methods to apply numerical research into the design of dredge pumps3. We are happy to share with you some experiences and insights on the Dredging Days.

Testing the non-radioactive density sensor

Another presentation will be by Frank Bosman4. He has been active in the development of an instrument that will measure the mixture density, without using a radio-active source. This intelligent solution is not only more sustainable, but will also provide easier access to this information. If you don’t know the density, you are very likely to underperform with your dredge. He will present some experiences and data gathered on the performance of this system.

Example of recent electric DOP dredge family

Our last presentation will be by René Sens3. Less technical, but surely an interesting perspective on the future of dredging equipment. Everyone in the dredging community is aware of the necessity to change and adapt to a more sustainable approach of our dredging business. There is an urgency to reach the goals set by the UN to leave the world behind as a better place than we received it. Although usually an increase in size also increases the efficiency of a dredge, the UN goals look beyond that single parameter. With that in mind, small and medium size dredges will be far more interesting than at first sight.

Session 7: Young CEDA ask a CEO (Credit: CEDA)

There will be a lot more going on and I could produce a long list of other interesting presentations. I think you should also check out: Edwin de Hoog and Joep Goeree, Basel Yousef and Jeroen van Stappen, and if you really want to get academic: Janek Gundlach, Ebi Shahmirzadi and Arno Talmon. You can just add to your own list and see who also joins in in the audience. Other interesting sessions will be the student ‘Flash Talks’5 and the ‘Young CEDA ask a CEO’ session6 with Peter Berdovski and Kees van de Graaf. And I am very curious what the other working groups and commissions of CEDA have to present about their work.

Thursday evening is the big get together of the dredging community; meet you there! (Credit: CEDA) — Dredging Days as a they used to be: personal interaction (Credit: CEDA)

References

2021: Muddling Along To A Healthy Year In Dredging

Calendar picture of a sunny dredging site

Dear readers, I sincerely wish you all the best for this new year. As things are looking positive on the vaccine front, we should keep testing negative this year. There are lots of items and events to look forward. Last year was not quite what we’ve hoped for and wished each other.

I do hope all of you are OK and are still together with your loved ones. I am fortunately in that respect. So, next to the Covid situation, there were a lot of other noteworthy items. Most of them have been featured here on Discover Dredging. My trip to Bangladesh, just before all the lockdown measures. The graduation of Carsten1 and Omar2 that were completely over Teams. Some attention to our Damen Dredging Experience3. And some other items. Did you enjoy the Donald Duck review?4

Opening scene of ‘Muddy Fine Business’ or ‘Success Test’ (Credit: Disney)

One sad event was, the last issue of Dredging and Port Construction5. We’ve had to say goodbye to our trusted DPC. Although by now, there has been a kind of digital revival on the CEDA Website6. They opened up a section for Industry News, edited by Namrata Nadkarni. It stands out from the other online media covering dredging as there has been some attention to smaller topics, that would normally not get covered. As I think it is a good initiative, I urge you to subscribe and also participate by sending them any noteworthy news items for publication. Not specifically the usual company press releases, but also the more thought provocative opinions and perspectives on the activities of our dredging community. Active participation could make this CEDA Industry News flourish this year.

Announcement of the CEDA Industry News section (Credit:CEDA)

Further personal activities within CEDA are the Dredging Management Commission7 and I am looking forward to the exciting new concept for the CEDA Dredging Days8. Will you participate? Also, I already took the course on ‘Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure’9, but you should keep an eye out on the next instalment, coming soon10.

A continuation from last year on my Discover Dredging will be some more articles on our Damen Dredging Experience. There are still some exhibit left to review and teaser:… There are some new exhibits arriving! Hope to have that covered when the pandemic will fizzle out we can show you around through our museum. And I hope to continue on pump and dredge technology.

Overview of the Damen Dredging Experience

Currently, there are some students working on their graduation thesis. Their very interesting topics will be highlighted here as well. Some others will start soon. When you are looking for a fun place to have your internship our your graduation, you might consider a visit to our career page11 or contacting Frank Bosman for any opportunities. Although most positions are filled at the moment, later this year we would welcome fresh brains again.

As our offices will be closed for regular work, I will be working from home most of the time. Probably most of you will do likewise. To keep track of the passage of time over the days, you should have a calendar. As a special service to my audience, I was granted the use of a set of beautiful pictures to create a calendar. You can download the file here and with some DIY skills you should have some original wall decoration for this year.

Stay healthy and stay safe. Hope to see you later this year.

References

Book Review: Dredging For Sustainable Infrastructure

‘Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure’ (Credit: CEDA & IADC)

Last week, I attended the last sessions of the ‘Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure’ course, jointly organised by CEDA1 and IADC2. This course is intended to quickly absorb the contents of the book of the same name3 and have a hands on experience of the novel methodology proposed. The book has been written by many different people as members of the participating organisations. As such, it is the condensed knowledge and ideas of the dredging community on a modern approach to infrastructure projects. Although there is a straightforward structure in the book, the publishers initiated courses as an introduction to the book.

Structure of the book (Credit: CEDA & IADC)

As Covid-19 swept across Europe and thwarted the intended live course days, the sessions were postponed and eventually held online. The presenters, Erik van Eekelen, Thomas Vijverberg and Mark Lee did a good job of introducing us to the book and supervise us in the break out working groups. The central storyline of the working groups was the harbour expansion of the fictional port of Tomigo in the fairy land of Quandany. Each of the participants was assigned a role to represent the consultant, the fishing community, the nature conservancy organisations, the power plant etc. A revelation for me from this interaction is how easy you are inclined to be egocentric in the defence of your interests. With just a little more attention to the other interests, there might be much better opportunities for yourself and for the whole of the project.

New harbour basin development at the port of Tomigo (Credit: CEDA & IADC)

The incentive to produce a book on this novel approach in dredging projects was the UN initiative to launch 17 Sustainable Development Goals4 and the book addresses most of these goals. If we can truly lift the proposed working procedures into an industry standard or even a social mentality, this will be a paradigm shift from where the project was the centre of attention to: ‘Where can nature and society benefit from an economic requirement?’ The next step will be from philosophy to action.

United Nations ‘Sustainable Development Goals (Credit: United Nations)

The focus of the book is very much on the initial stages of a project: include sustainability on the basis of the design of a project, demonstrating options for sustainable solutions suggestion of sustainable techniques. As a dredging equipment manufacturer5, most of the topics will not affect my daily work. Still, in the work group sessions, it was interesting to see the interaction between the various parties that are involved with the initiation of a project. As a dredge builder4, we usually meet the requirements for the equipment applied. Though, the technical solution to achieve this might be not the most commercial solution. However, the book makes it clear and provides examples, that taking all aspects of a project into account, including social and nature opportunities, the benefits of a sustainable approach of a project might still make a viable business case.

Three pillars of sustainability (Credit: CEDA & IADC)

The verdict on the book: it is a reference book. And as such it is very tiresome to plough through. However, the course is very enlightening as introductory lectures into the contents. Then the meticulously compiled information starts to live. Don’t depend on the courses alone, also leaf through and note all the valuable tables, graphs and diagrams, especially the guiding boxes that can assist you in setting up your dredging project. It definitely belongs on your bookshelf.

‘Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure’ in our bookshelf

Tag: CEDA

CEDA Dredging Days 2021: Sustainable Dredging And Innovation

References

See also

2021: Muddling Along To A Healthy Year In Dredging

References

See also

Book Review: Dredging For Sustainable Infrastructure

References

See also