On 22 January, a workshop was organised with the ­Netherlands section of the Central European Dredging Association (CEDA).
Over 130 attendees (70%/30% CEDA/HSB) assembled at the dredger yard of the host, IHC – the world market leader of dredging equipment – at Sliedrecht, one of the cradle towns of the dredging industry.
Kicking off the evening with a perfect warm buffet, drinks and relaxed atmosphere, the presentation section started at 19:30 hrs and was opened by CEDA Chairman Johan Pennekamp welcoming all those present on this first joint event and passing over to the evening’s chairman Wim van Wieren. The central theme chosen by the evening chairman from IHC Systems (from the automation division of IHC and both a HSB board member and CEDA member) was ‘baggergrafie’ (which translates to ‘dredge’ography’). According to his introduction, the expression ‘dredge’ography’ covers the relationship of both associations as ’Efficient dredging at the right spot’, which happens to be one of the business areas of IHC systems. Various attending individuals and companies are involved in both dredging and hydrography. The theme was chosen to emphasise the goal of this evening, which was to learn about the relationships between the associations and their respective areas of professionalism and interests.

Johan Pennekamp, Chairman of CEDA-NL, started to introduce the CEDA and its goals, and he was followed by Rob Luijnenburg, Chairman of HSB. Rob not only outlined to the CEDA members the goals of the society but he also briefly outlined the history and science of hydrography. After these introductions, there were three technical presentations.

Jeroen van Reenen, Hydrographer and Project Manager from the Port of Rotterdam, described the hydrographic activities involved in their maritime infrastructure maintenance responsibilities in one of the largest ports of the world. Focus was on the hydrographical methods for defining the ‘nautical bottom’ as one of the critical definitions for the safe passage of ships as well as for maintenance dredging contracts.

Clive Skelhorn, Operations Manager Survey for van Oord Dredging and Offshore, opened his presentationQ7 Offshore Windmill Construction Workssuggesting that he would expect to present for the ‘green-peace’ forum. In his presentation, a subtle link was given between interrelations of dredging, hydrography and offshore construction challenges for – “what-else-in Holland” – windmills as high as 100 metres including interconnection works of high-voltage subsea cabling and ‘bringing onshore’ ­activities by a huge crawler-trencher. One of the remarkable suggestions was that modern electronic positioning systems did not always work here and simple classic ‘levelling’ by this ’old practical hydrographer’ worked perfectly. As expressed in 1960 in theAdmiralty Manual on Hydrographic Surveying, the work of a surveyor is of an “arduous and often trying nature”.

The last speaker was Peter Boon, Commercial Manager of Fugro, which was asked to present the innovations side of hydrography as seen by the world market leader of hydrographic surveying. His topic wasFrom Dredge’ography to General Supporting Dredge Science. Peter emphasised the evolutionary, rather than the revolutionary side of hydrographic instrumentation. In addition, he described certain specific topics close to hydrography and dredging from ‘metocean’ (weather-windowing) services and systems as well as the international law of the sea. Internationally, this topic can be relevant when establishing legal rights to issue dredging or mining contracts.

Closing remarks where given by both Wim van Wieren and Johan Pennekamp regarding the clearly successful evening and they expressed their hopes that this would possibly be continued in the future.

All five presentations, as well as other information and downloads, can be obtained from the CEDA and HSB websites.