Case Study: Port Otago achieves precise, real-time underwater dredging with Trimble Marine Construction Software

Port Otago Dredging Moving Forward

Port Otago, New Zealand’s primary export port on Otago Harbour, operates two wharf systems and maintains the country’s longest harbour channel. Faced with shifting sediments from rivers, tides and inconsistent seabed depths, the port needed to reliably maintain an 8 m channel (with plans to deepen to 10 m) while avoiding over-dredging that could breach resource consents and waste time and money.

Using Trimble Marine Construction (TMC) software and Trimble positioning technologies, dredge crews get real-time underwater 3D visualization, precise positioning and automated tide calibration, allowing them to return to exact locations and work to within 10–20 cm of design depth. The solution improved productivity and confidence, reduced material loss and repositioning time, and produced accurate as-built reporting for transparent project management.

Port Otago

Leon Snoeck

Dredge Operator