Dublin Harbour Capital Dredging Campaign 2026
9 February 2026
Dublin Port Company (DPC) intend to carry out loading and dumping at sea of dredged material arising from capital dredging as part of the Dublin Harbour Capital Dredging Project over the period February to March 2026. This will be the first campaign of loading/dumping to be carried out for this project.
It is intended that capital dredging will commence on 9th February 2026, subject to suitable weather conditions. The dredging campaign is scheduled to last for four to six weeks and will end before the closed period 31st March 2026.
The areas to be dredged during the first campaign of the Dublin Harbour Capital Dredging Project is focused on the Navigation Channel between the entrance to Alexandra Basin West and the Western Oil Jetty. The maximum volume of material to be loaded and dumped is 164,000m3 in accordance with the permitted quantity in condition A.1 of the Dumping at Sea Permit.
The capital dredging campaign will be undertaken by Irish Dredging Ltd a subsidiary of international dredging company Boskalis. The first dredging campaign will be carried out using a Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger (TSHD) the Shoalway and by a back-hoe dredger Odin and other support vessels (see Figures 1 and 2).The back hoe dredger will be accompanied by Barges TF501 and TF502 towed by Tug Union Topaz.
The material to be dredged consists of a mixture of clay, silt, sand, gravel and cobbles. The dredged sediments will be disposed of at the existing licensed offshore disposal site located at the entrance to Dublin Bay to the west of the Burford Bank, (6.75 km from the lighthouse at the end of the Great South Wall).Sediment sampling and analysis has shown that the sediments to be dredged are suitable for disposal at sea (Class 1 uncontaminated, no biological effects likely).
The capital dredging campaign will be undertaken in accordance with the Conditions set out by a Dumping at Sea Permit and Foreshore Licence.
The Dumping at Sea Permit has been granted by Environmental Protection Agency (Permit S0033-01) and can be viewed at the following link:
Environmental Protection Agency (epa.ie)
The Foreshore Licence has been granted by the Minister of State of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the reference number for the License is FS007164. The administration and enforcement of conditions of Foreshore Licenses since 2024 rests with the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA).
EPA and MARA have both been provided with notification regarding the upcoming dredging campaign.
DPC, in compliance with conditions set out in the Dumping at Sea Permit and Foreshore Licence will undertake an extensive monitoring programme of the dredging operations. This will include the use of Marine Mammal Observers, Marine Archaeologists and alarmed water quality monitoring buoys.
A Notice to Mariners will be issued by the Dublin Port Harbour Master and regularly updated as the capital dredging campaign proceeds. All Notice to Mariners can be located on the Dublin Port Company website
www.dublinport.ie/information-centre/notice-to-mariners
If you have any concerns with respect to the Capital Dredging Campaign (February to March 2026), direct contact can be made with DPC by phoning the following number during normal business hours, 01 8876000 and ask for Eamon McElroy; or by email to info@dublinport.ie. DPC will undertake to make every effort to address your concerns. Alternatively, you may wish to make direct contact with the Office of Environmental Enforcement, EPA.
Figure 1 Back Hoe Dredger Odin
Figure 2 Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger Shoalway