According to The Observer, two new dredges will be arriving in Gladstone later this month.
The first dredge was scheduled to arrive in the harbour on April 11 and will be replacing the backhoe dredge Simson that has been out of operation since Christmas Day last year. The Hippopotes is a medium size backhoe dredge, arriving by barge from Singapore and the barge will leave with the Simson. The second new arrival is the cutter suction dredge Castor, which will mainly be working on dredging works for the Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal.
The Castor and 2 boosters are scheduled to arrive after April 24 to begin deepening the central harbour for berths and swing basins for coal ships.
Once both new dredges have arrived there will be a total of 5 dredges operating on the Western Basin Dredging and Disposal Project.
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Dredging Today Staff, March 30, 2012; Image: westernbasinportdevelopment