OPTIMISATION OF MAINTENANCE DREDGING OPERATIONS IN MARITIME AND ESTUARINE AREAS

Maintenance dredging involves a constant struggle against sedimentation to keep ports and waterways accessible. Two aspects of optimizing maintenance dredging are summarized and illustrated. The first is the need to acquire a good knowledge of the behavior of the sediments involved. The second is the need to program work according to both the dredging equipment and sediment characteristics.