Minister with oversight responsibility for water, works and housing in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Dr Horace Chang (left) and CEO of Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited Olivier Tretout look at sludge dredged from the seafloor at Port Bustamante, yesterday. (Michael Gordon)

Seven weeks into the dredging of Port Bustamante in the Kingston Harbour to facilitate larger ships coming through the Panama Canal, the company contracted to do the excavation is reporting that there are “no visible impacts” on fishing beaches in proximity to the operation sites.

Using a trailing suction hopper dredger with a capacity of 14,000 cubic metres, Sodraco has so far been removing soft material — clay, silt and some sand — and dumping it some 15 miles south-west of the terminal where the waters are about 600 metres deep. It makes eight trips per 24-hour day and should remove a total volume of seven million cubic metres. Once the soft material is completely removed, a cutter suction dredger will tackle the rock-based material.

The dredging is part of the Kingston Container Terminal (KCT) Expansion Project which is being marshalled by concessionaire Kingston Freeport Terminal Ltd (KFTL). It is being completed in phases, the first of which is scheduled to end late in 2018.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/environment/Dredging-of-Kingston-Harbour-begins_90328