Introduction to the congress theme
“Dredging is Changing” and this change is evident everywhere.
Dredging is an essential tool. The use of dredging expertise is expanding beyond the traditional areas of port development, river deepening and land reclamation. Dredging is now also integral to offshore energy, nature restoration and deep-sea mining expansion opportunities. The need for more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly construction practices has been a driver for innovation in dredging equipment and engineered solutions for many years.
Today, all industries are challenged with meeting the sustainability objectives detailed in the UN’s 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These challenges have continued to drive innovation in all dredging sectors, from project proponents such as government agencies and ports, to regulators, consultants and shipyards. WODA has been a leader in sustainability, and in 2013, at WODCON XX in Brussels, Belgium, WODA members signed the ‘WODA Principles for Sustainable Dredging’. The fact that it still stands today, is a testament to WODA’s progressive contributions to the science of dredging. WODA continues to be committed not only to meeting current sustainability objectives but also to meeting future needs.
Sustainability is manifested in the way we plan, design and implement projects, and in the technology and processes we use. This is a constantly and rapidly changing field and, at WODCON XXIII, we have an opportunity to learn from each other and collaboratively design new tools for the future.
Main topics
The International Technical Papers and Programme Committee has invited the submission of over 80 papers from authors throughout the world to be presented at the Congress and to be included in the Congress’ Proceedings. The papers cover a wide range of subjects in the following broad areas:
- Beneficial use of sediment
- Deep sea mining
- Energy efficiency & decarbonisation
- Equipment: history, development and innovation
- Flood risk and coastal protection
- Hydraulic transport
- Marine construction
- Ports & waterways: erosion, sedimentation & maintenance
- Renewables infrastructure including energy islands
- Sediment treatment
- The Fehmarnbelt Tunnel Link
- Turbidity modelling / monitoring
The technical sessions will run Tuesday – Thursday in plenary and parallel tracks, following dynamic and engaging formats, including keynotes, paper presentations, and panel discussions.
Programme highlights
Keynotes
Our distinguished, confirmed speakers are:
Trine Bramsen, Danish Minister of Transport: “Dredging is Changing”
Henrik Vincentsen, CEO Femern: “Other large-scale projects under development within our region to follow the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel Link”
Kristoffer Bottzauw, Director General Danish Energy Agency: “Offshore wind next level: the Danish Energy Islands”
Jakob Steffensen, Director, Innovation Lead, DFDS Seaways. Presentation title follows.
Corporate Executives Sustainability Disruption Debate
Our distinguished, confirmed guest are:
Theo Baartmans, Royal Boskalis, Westminster, the Netherlands
Jan-Pieter Klaver, Royal IHC, the Netherlands
Lars-Peter Søbye, COWI, Denmark
Luc Vandenbulcke, DEME, Belgium
Henrik Vincentsen, Femern, Denmark
