Dredged Material Management in Hamburg - Experiences and Developments

The Port of Hamburg has developed a dredged material management concept based on different elements. Since the quality of the River Elbe improved very much in the last decade open water disposal or sustainable relocation of dredged sediments is now the main constituent. But still land treatment and disposal are necessary. Each year an amount of 1.4 Million m³ is technically treated in a large scale plant (separation and dewatering) and disposed in specially constructed silt mounds. Beneficial use is an aim, but until now mainly due to high costs is not sensible for very large amounts. More and more a river basin management concept which combines dredged material handling and source control to solve contamination problems at emission sources is needed.