Ploughing

A plough is a box-shaped tool that can smoothen unevenness on the sea bottom. Ploughing is a dredging technique where a plough is towed over the seabed in order to move the bottom.

Ploughing campaigns can be done stand-alone, in running tides where the current dissolves or carries the material, or can drag soil from shallower areas towards deeper sites. Also, in combination with a Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger (TSHD), ploughing campaigns are frequently carried out. The trailing drag heads of a TSHD can create trenches in stiff bottom soil, creating a ribbed surface. Towing the plough in a pattern perpendicular over the trails of the dredger, thus flattening the profile of the seabed and removing high spots can make a dredging operation significantly more efficient. Obviously, a plough and tug are generally less expensive equipment to deploy as a dredger.

Moreover, efficiency of the dredging operation can be increased if the the plough vessel is equipped with MBE-sonar, in order to survey the ploughed seabed or harbour areas, and potentially, also wider areas as dredged by a TSHD.

For many years, Acta Marine has successfully been carrying out ploughing works on behalf of different clients on different projects in Asia and Europe, thus contributing to the efficiency of the dredging operations of our clients and, moreover, proving the versatility of our vessels. Acta Marine is in the possession of several A-frames for deploying ploughs on vessels with survey moonpools.

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