Yamal dredging gets Environmental Captain

Mordraga LLC, the Russian branch of Belgium’s DEME Group, has started dredging works in the Gulf of Ob, Siberia. These works are a part of a huge international operation to facilitate maritime transport of liquid gas from the Yamal Peninsula.

Ecological monitoring is in place and will be continued by the Russian client. However, DEME itself is investing in a careful follow-up of the environmental impact of the dredging works and has created a specific Environmental Management Plan (EMP) based on a strict precautionary principle. Anything DEME can do to minimize the impact on the local ecology, it will do.

Furthermore, an independent expert consultant, ECOREM NV, has been appointed to verify the implementation of the EMP, check the scientific accuracy of the execution and, if necessary, adjust the plan to the on-site conditions and requirements.

“Our findings will, where necessary, influence the implementation of the EMP”, says ECORUM chairman and director Walter Mondt. Antwerp based ECORUM is the independent Environmental Captain of the dredging works along the Yamal Peninsula, without ties to the Russian client.

“We worked hard on the EMP to execute the dredging works in Siberia in a sustainable and sound way, says Marc Huygens, DEME’s Environmental & Sustainability Manager, “but we are of course willing to adjust our plan. Local conditions or operational insights require, as with other projects, a continuous flexibility and adjustment.

“We chose to have an external consultant do an on-site investigation, the results of which will allow us to implement our EMP in the best way possible.”

“We report our findings in a clear way.” adds Walter Mondt. “I will regularly be on the dredgers, in particular on the survey ships which are especially used for inspection and monitoring of the dredging works and the implementation of the EMP. A transparent report follows.

“Our findings will definitely be guiding for DEME’s EMP and lead to adjustments. Furthermore, I would even go so far as to say that we will add to the existing, scientific knowledge and insights about this specific ecosystem. There has been a lot of research in this area, but there are always gaps in existing knowledge. We might have the privilege to fill in those gaps.”

By Larz Bourne