Birdon was awarded a three-year contract by South Australia Water Corporation for the dredging of the Murray mouth entrance and adjacent channels which was extended by another three years.The project involved two cutter suction dredges plus a booster pump operating on a 24 hour day, seven days per week basis.

The Murray Mouth, near Goolwa in South Australia, is a dynamic system influenced by the flow of Murray River water through the barrages and tidal movement from the Southern Ocean.

Periods of low flow, such as the Millennium Drought in 2002, have led to the mouth threatening to close. The mouth was dredged for eight years from 2002 to 2010, during the Millennium Drought, to keep it open.

Birdon began work in 2007 and continued to 2010. Birdon was then awarded a further three-year contract which was suspended in 2011 when flood waters negated the need for continual dredging.

The contract was a turn key solution involving provision of all plant, equipment labour and services including construction of pipeline, operation of cutter suction dredge, booster, work boats plant machinery and associated equipment and vessels.

In February of 2018, Birdon commenced dredging works on the renourishment of Hampton Beach for the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.

To perform the works, Birdon supplied and installed a submerged pipeline of approximately 1 kilometre in length to pump 20,000 m³ of sand from designated areas of Port Phillip Bay just outside of the Sandringham Yacht Club Marina. Birdon then used an excavator to spread and profile the sand along a 1.5km section of Hampton Beach to achieve the appropriate design levels.

Birdon was responsible for the supply and establishment of all equipment, including construction of temporary pipelines. This project was completed with the operation of Birdon’s cutter suction dredge “BALLINA”.

The “before and after” photo below shows the improvement to the Beach after Birdon had completed the renourishment.

Birdon undertook maintenance dredging works within the Newport Canals for Moreton Bay Regional Council.The work included the removal of sediment within the canal system using a long reach excavator mounted on a hopper barge.

Sediment was excavated from the seabed and loaded directly into the hopperbarge before being transferred to a larger barge approximately 1km offshore. Once the larger barge reached capacity (500 cubic metres) it was then towed to Mud Island for disposal.