What are they dredging up? About This Page:

[WDWJAMBA]

I'm really enjoying watching the Port Canaveral web cam while counting down to our first cruise.

I've even clicked on other places like Fort Lauderdale and Miami to watch those.

It's really rather interesting aside from watching the cruise ships just from a logistics point of view. For example, I've noticed that the pilot boats seem to be responsible for helping the cruise ships navigate out of their berths and out to sea in Fort Lauderdale. Some have to back up in what seems like quite a tricky maneuver. The pilot boats speed all around as the huge ship backs up and the pilot boat helps move marine traffic out of the way as well. (One time a small sailboat just kind of sat there as the huge Oasis of the Seas was headed right for it!)
Port Canaveral ships seem to have an easier time with not as much traffic in the channel as they leave.

It must be rather intimidating working along side the ships!

Today in Port Canaveral and for the last several days, some kind of dredger is working in the canal that goes out to sea. It's always out of the way when the ships leave, but is back the next morning scooping "stuff" out of the water and onto a barge.

Is it just sand that comes into the canal during storm surge? Is it garbage from marine traffic?

Sorry if this is a weird question. I've never been on a huge ship like the one I'm going on. I tend to research things to death just because I like to know.

[Dave Marx]

Periodic dredging is almost always needed in shipping channels. What needs to be dredged varies depending on the channel, but in Port Canaveral garbage won't be the cause, there won't be silt carried in by streams and rivers (there are none in this case), and there's not a lot of vegetation likely to contribute fallen leaves, etc. I'd put it down to shifting sands from water movement - the ships can really churn things up.

They're also expanding the port facilities - building new terminals, etc. They've had to expand the turning basin, which also required a fair amount of dredging. Also, with the larger ships (which sit somewhat deeper in the water), they'll try to keep the channel deeper than it used to be.

[WDWJAMBA]

That's really interesting to know. Are the Fantasy and the Dream the largest ships that use Port Canaveral? I'd never considered that a larger ship would need to sit deeper in the water, but it makes perfect sense.

Thanks for letting me ask an "I wonder why" question, Dave.

[Dave Marx]

This press release may explain the channel dredging - it doesn't confirm that the funding was approved, but it does describe the intent.

Size-wise, Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas is the biggest ship calling at Port Canaveral, and the Carnival Dream is about the same size as the new Disney ships.

[WDWJAMBA]

That would seem the answer as to why they're doing it. Thanks!

[dmpyron]

If you think back a few years, remember when Port Canaveral was closed for a week or so because of major "renovations" in the channel after a hurricane. I think all of the work they're doing is to keep from being "set up" again.

The date of the article seems pretty close to the time that had rumors of RCI moving one of the Oasis ships to PCN. Not that that was ever going to happen. But PCN has been active over the last few years in trying to get more ships. "We'll" have five ships out of Galveston this winter and the port has apparently been discussing the possibility of another year round ship. Or at least the rumor rag called a newspaper says so.