Sweeping of Antigua's St.John's Harbour begins

The long awaited sweeping of  St.John's harbour, Antigua began today (19-Feb-2015). The Cyprus registered Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger, Shoreway (IMO 9618783), owned by Royal Boskalis Westminster of the Netherlands has been contracted to undertake this project. Boskalis, one of the world's leading engineering firms, specializes in dredging, salvage, towage and offshore energy projects.

The innovative vessel which arrived in Antigua on Feb 16th from Poland via Rotterdam, Netherlands, will suck the silt which has accumulated over the years into its hull using a vacuum-like arm which it drags on the sea bed. It will then make numerous trips to dump its unwanted cargo in deeper water offshore. It is estimated that it will take over 130 such trips to complete the project. The following Boskalis video demonstrates the operation of a Hopper Dredger:

Shoreway operating in Turning Basin, St.John's,Antigua

Noordam refuses to dock in St.John's Antigua

Today, just over a year since the Mein Schiff 2 refused to dock in St.John's (Antigua), another vessel, Holland America's cruise ship, the Noordam also made a similar about-turn. Arriving at the entrance to St.John's harbour around 7am, the ship made several loops off shore before finally departing at approximately 9am. The remainder of the day was spent meandering in the north Caribbean Sea enroute to its next scheduled stop, St.Thomas, where it is due to dock tomorrow.

Noordam en-route to St.Thomas after abadoning scheduled stop at St.John's, Antigua (from marinetraffic.com)

Noordam circling outside St.John's Harbour (from marinetraffic.com)

 While I have no information on the reasons for the ship not docking, there have been talks of sweeping the harbour to remove silt which has accumulated over the years and it is my understanding that the ship which has been contracted to perform this task is already enroute to Antigua. Based on a search of  marinetraffic.com I have been able to determine that the Cyprus registered hopper dredger, Shoreway (IMO 9420344) is scheduled to arrive in Antigua from Rotterdam on February 17th.