Behind a fjord collaboration: Sand from the Limfjord gets a new life

A few weeks ago, the Magni R dredger completed a week of intensive work at Hals Barre – the entrance to the Limfjord – where it pumped thousands of tons of sand from the channel.

More than 100,000 cubic metres of sand are dredged every year. This is necessary to maintain the water depth so that large ships can continue to sail into both Aalborg Portland and the Port of Aalborg.

But that is not the only benefit. The dredged sand is not wasted but is a key element in a symbiotic collaboration with Aalborg Portland.

“The large ships that call both Aalborg Portland and the Port of Aalborg require a certain depth in the channel. Therefore, the channel must be continuously deepened. And instead of dumping the sand that is dredged further out in the Kattegat, it is sailed to Aalborg Portland, where it becomes part of the production of our gray cement,” explains Mogens Pedersen, Harbour & Terminal Manager at Aalborg Portland, and continues

“We get sand from the Limfjord and from other parts of North Jutland, where it is transported on trucks. But with the quantities we use, it’s much more attractive to have it shipped in because we save a considerable amount of trucks. That’s why we’re very happy about the collaboration,” says Mogens Pedersen.

Resource utilization started before sustainability became a buzzword

Behind the dredging is Aalborg Fjord Committee, which is made up of Port of Aalborg and Aalborg Portland. Since 1925, the committee has been dredging and maintaining water depths of 10.1 metres and 10.4 metres in the Limfjord and Kattegat respectively.

“We have a long tradition of utilizing the dredged materials, and over the past many years we have had an agreement with Aalborg Portland to support their cement production,” says Port of Aalborg Technical and Sustainability Manager Mette Schmidt, who is also an administrator in the Aalborg Fjord Committee.

“In other words, we’ve been at it for a long time – long before symbiosis and sustainability became the big buzzwords. And in fact, we don’t just use the dredged sand for cement production. We also use it continuously for new projects and for preparing large areas of land at the East Port. So it’s simply common sense,” says Mette Schmidt.

In addition to the ongoing dredging, Aalborg Fjord Committee is also responsible for navigation on the Limfjord and the entrance to the fjord in the form of buoys and lights, among other things.

Video: See the dredger in action

If you want to see the dredger in action, Aalborg Portland recently made this video that gives insight into the work.