Dredging off Cyrene Reef and other Southern coastal works

There'll be dredging next to Cyrene until April. As well as dredging and other massive works next to Pulau Jong and Terumbu Semakau for works on the Shell pipeline for crude oil to Pulau Bukom.

Dredging next to Cyrene in Jul 2011.

Meanwhile, huge on-going reclamation continues: next to Labrador for the new Pasir Panjang Container Terminal continues, with more dredging; and at Tuas.

Coastal works and dredging stirs up sediments and makes the water murky. Why does this matter?

Seagrasses, like other plants, need sunlight. Murky water is like haze. It reduces the level of light that reaches the seagrasses through the water, and mucks up the leave blades.

Cyrene has some of the best seagrass meadows in Singapore.

Corals need sunlight too! Corals are tiny animals (called polyps) that harbour microscopic, single-celled algae (called zooxanthellae) inside their bodies. The algae undergo photosynthesis to produce food from sunlight which is shared with the coral polyp. These additional nutrients from the zooxanthellae are believed to help hard corals produce their hard skeletons and thus expand the size of the colony faster. Thus clear waters that let sunlight through for photosynthesis is important for healthy reef growth.

Living reefs at Terumbu Semakau with Pulau Jong on the horizon,
where major dredging and works by Shell will take place.

DREDGING WORKS OFF CYRENE REEF
Port Marine Notice NO. 12 OF 2013 dated 30 Jan 2013

With effect from 01 Feb 13 to 15 Apr 13. 24 hrs daily including Sundays and Public Holidays. Dredging works will be carried out by the dredger, “Pandora” held in position by 3 spuds as anchors. The dredger, with hopper barge in attendance, will have a circular safety working zone of 100-metre radius centred at the dredger. Dredged materials will be transported to the designated dumping ground by the hopper barge assisted by pusher tugs. During the operation, the dredger and hopper barge will be attended by tug boats when required.

There was massive dredging in the same area in Jul 2011.


Shell is also undertaking massive works on the single buoy mooring (SBM) pipeline that transfers crude to the petrochemical plants on Pulau Bukom. Shell briefed a few of us about this in Sep 2012.

DREDGING WORKS OFF SHELL BUKOM SBM
Port Marine Notice NO. 18 OF 2013 dated 08 Feb 2013

With effect from 19 Feb 2013 to 01 Apr 2013. 24hours daily including Sundays and Public Holidays. Dredging works will be carried out by the trailer suction hopper dredger “Cornelis Zanen”. The dredger will have a circular safety working zone of 300-metre radius centred at the dredger. Dredged materials will be transported to the designated dumping ground by the same trailer suction hopper dredger.

Here's a view from Pulau Jong, of the work area.

SHELL BUKOM SBM SUBSEA PIPELINE REPAIR
Port Marine Notice NO. 16 OF 2013 dated 07 Feb 13

With effect from 15 Feb 13 to 30 Mar 13. 24 hours daily including Sundays and Public Holidays. The repair works will entail the removal and reinstallation of existing SBM buoy and new subsea pipeline. Pipeline reinstallation works will be carried out by pipelay barge “LEIGHTON STEALTH” held by 4-point anchor moorings within the working area.

Meanwhile, massive reclamation at Pasir Panjang and Tuas continues as they have for many years already.

RECLAMATION AT PASIR PANJANG TERMINAL AND PASIR PANJANG WHARVES
from Port Marine Notice NO. 07 of 2013 dated 18 Jan 2013

This is a revision of Port Marine Notice No. 184 of 2012. The working details and working period have been revised. With effect from 19 Jan 13 to 18 Jul 13. 24 hours daily including Sundays and Public Holidays. Works will include reclamation, dredging, soil investigation, caisson construction, demolition of the de-commissioned Pasir Panjang wharves, and removal of submarine cables, pipelines and construction of container berth. Dredging works will be carried out by dredgers attended to by tug boats.

DREDGING WORKS OFF PASIR PANJANG FERRY TERMINAL
Port Marine Notice NO. 10 OF 2013 dated 22 Jan 2013

This is a revision of Port Marine Notice No. 100 of 2012. The working period has been extended. With effect from 30 Jan 13 to 29 Jul 13. From 0100hrs to 0530hrs hours daily including Sundays and Public Holidays. Dredging works will be carried out by the dredgers “ Ebisu”, “Musashi” and “Hitachi”. The Dredgers will be held by spuds There will be a circular safety working zone of 50-metres radius centred at the dredger. Dredged materials will be transported to the designated dumping ground by the hopper barges assisted by pusher tugs. Only one dredger, hopper barge and two tugs will be working at any one time. During the operation, the dredger and hopper barge will be attended by tug boats. The tug boats will be used to shift the dredger and hopper barges, when required to clear the fairway for vessels to berth or unberth.

Here's a view of the reclamation site from Labrador during TeamSeagrass monitoring in Nov 2012.

RECLAMATION WORK AT TUAS VIEW EXTENSION
Port Marine Notice NO. 15 OF 2013 dated 06 Feb 2013

This is a revision of Port Marine Notice No. 115 of 2012. The working period has been extended. With effect from 16 Feb 2013 to 15 Sep 2013. 24 hours daily including Sundays and Public Holidays. The reclamation works will involve dredging by cutter suction dredger (CSD), trailer-suction-hopper-dredger (TSHD) and hopper barges. Shore protection works will be carried out by crane barges and the dredging of sand-key trench by grab dredger. Soil investigation will be carried out within the working area.

You CAN make a difference for our wild shores

Monitoring work by volunteers of TeamSeagrass and ReefFriends helps understand the impact of these and other threats on our shores.