Poor weather may ‘delay’ Marina dredging

The news follows the establishment of a new body to deal with maritime issues within the Mid and East Antrim Council area.

The dredging project sees the removal of silt from the sea floor in order to facilitate the smooth passage of vessels into the marina.

A contingency period has been built into the scheme to account for potential delays.

“As with any outdoor project, the weather will have an effect: tides, direction of the wind and so on. But it is anticipated that the dredge will be over in the next few months,” said council officer Lisa Adair.

A report presented at last week’s meeting of the Economic Growth and Development Committee indicated the equipment used for the dredge had been delayed on another contract due to poor weather.

In Carrick, the weather has already resulted in fewer deposits than anticipated being taken to the spoil site during the test dredging stage.

“Two weeks contingency had been built into the contract. It is likely that time will be clawed back to enable contract completion within schedule but this is subject to no further delays in relation to weather or equipment malfunction,” the report added.

It was recommended that all relevant parties be made aware of the situation on site for the period of the programme, so mitigating receipt of complaints.

“I would hope there won’t be a backlog in the dredging project as we are running a facility that is supposed to be generating money,” said committee member, Councillor Jim Brown. “The new Maritime Board will monitor the outworkings of the marina and ensure that service is being delivered.”

Regular notices to mariners, meetings of the Dredge Working Group, and contact with the Berth Holders Association will assist in making information readily available, members were told. A site foreman will be available to give information, while regular updates will also be placed on the council website.

Meanwhile, there are hopes of expanding the life of each dredging programme. “Our last dredge was about eight years ago; we are looking at ways to mitigate having to dredge so frequently,” said Ms Adair.