Dredging
A dredger is deepening a channel or moving sediment, often with floating or submerged pipelines to the shore.
Dredging keeps harbour approaches and channels at their charted depth and supplies sand for reclamation and beach work. Dredgers are restricted in their ability to manoeuvre, and cutter-suction dredgers pump material ashore through pipelines that can be floating or laid on the seabed across the channel.
Warnings give the working area and ask ships to pass at slow speed and on the side indicated by the dredger's signals. Dumping grounds for dredged material are sometimes charted as spoil grounds.
What the archive shows
85 messages in this archive use “Dredging”, the earliest issued 1978-07-31 and the latest 2026-08-29. None of them is in force in the latest lists we collected. A hazard reported again and again counts once per message.
The largest yearly count is 2005, with 9 messages. Collection is incomplete between 2024-05 and 2026-08-17, so 2024, 2025 and 2026 are not comparable with fully collected years.
Spills accounts for 44 of 85 recorded messages (52%), the largest warning type group in this selection.
Located messages that use it fall in 17 sea areas; the most frequent are North Atlantic Ocean (23), Gulf of Mexico (20) and Sea of Okhotsk (6).
Messages that use it are issued most often in April (12 across all years) and least often in May (4).
By warning series: NOAAORR 44, HYDROPAC 24, HYDROLANT 10 and NAVAREA IV 6, and 1 more.
Messages using it, by year of issue
By month of issue, all years
Where it appears · 17 sea areas
How it reads in recent messages
- NAVAREA IV 838/26 · Surveys · Caribbean Sea2026-08-28
…SEA. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO. 1. UNDERWATER OPERATIONS 291000Z AUG THRU 090800Z SEP BY DREDGE BOSKALIS SHOREWAY IN VICINITY 10-06.91N 061-02.84W. 500 METER BERTH REQUESTED. 2.…
Trinidad and tobago → - NOAAORR-10874 · Spills · Gulf of Mexico2024-11-21
…acting Region 6 SSC to notify them of the sunken Tug Kathy Pawg, which allided with a dredging line and sank in Galveston Bay, TX at 1330 central time. The tug sank with a max…
Galveston bay, tx, USA → - NAVAREA IV 61/24 · Surveys · Caribbean Sea2024-01-18
…CARIBBEAN SEA. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO. 1. UNDERWATER OPERATIONS 20 JAN THRU 28 FEB BY DREDGE COSTA LA LUZ A. ALONG TRACKLINE JOINING 10-37.71N 061-31.86W, 10-38.34N 061-30.21W,…
Trinidad and tobago → - NOAAORR-10716 · Spills · Gulf of Mexico2024-01-07
…sheen (see photos) was reported aprox 3 miles north of the wellhead near an ongoing dredging operations (see photos). USCG is trying to determine if sheen is oil or possible false…
Pilottown, la, USA → - HYDROPAC 65/24 · Surveys · Persian Gulf2024-01-05
PERSIAN GULF. U.A.E. DNC 10. DREDGING OPERATIONS IN PROGRESS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE IN AREAS BOUND BY: A. 24-19.35N 052-40.33E,…
Dredging operations in progress until further notice in areas bound by: a. 24-19.35N 052-40.33E, 24-19.01N… → - NAVAREA IV 1451/23 · Surveys · Caribbean Sea2023-12-14
…SEA. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO. 1. UNDERWATER OPERATIONS FROM 18 DEC THRU 28 FEB 24 BY DREDGE COSTA LA CRUZ IN AREAS BOUND BY: A. 10-37.70N 061-31.90W, 10-38.30N 061-30.20W,…
Trinidad and tobago → - NOAAORR-10631 · Spills · Gulf of Mexico2023-07-13
…Hydraulic Fluid offshore Galveston, TX. Offshore Galveston, TX. 1. On July 12, 2023 a dredge outside Galveston jetties discharged an estimated 300 gallons of Neptune AW Series 46…
Discharge of biodegradable hydraulic fluid offshore galveston, tx → - NAVAREA IV 747/23 · Surveys · Caribbean Sea2023-07-01
CARIBBEAN SEA. COLOMBIA. UNDERWATER OPERATIONS IN PROGRESS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE BY DREDGE LEILA IN AREAS BOUND BY: A. 07-56.05N 076-45.47W, 07-55.99N 076-45.44W, 07-55.65N…
Underwater operations in progress until further notice by dredge leila in areas bound by: a. 07-56.05N… →
Earliest in the archive
- NOAAORR-6243 · Spills · North Atlantic Ocean1978-07-31
…Oil Spill; Rockaway Point, New York. Rockaway Point, New York. 1. On July 31, 1978, the dredge Pennsylvania and its tug Gracie Moran ran aground while entering Rockaway Inlet, New…
Rockaway point, new york →
Often in the same message
Related terms
- Restricted in ability to manoeuvre
- A vessel whose work — cable laying, diving, dredging, towing — stops it from keeping out of other ships' way.
- Wide berth requested
- Keep well clear — or, when a distance is given ("TWO MILE BERTH REQUESTED"), at least that far away.
- Shoal / reported depth
- Water shallower than the chart shows — a newly found shoal, a reported depth, or less water than charted.
Warning types that use it
- Structures — Platforms, wind turbines and fish farms established, under construction or removed.
- Restricted — Navigation prohibited, exclusion and security zones, ports closed to traffic.
Counts cover the messages in this archive that use the term, recounted 2026-09-24; see coverage for what is collected and since when. Not for navigation — follow official NAVAREA and coastal broadcasts.