Handling of dredged material in Gothenburg 

Ragn-Sells plant Marieholm in Gothenburg in Sweden enables us to handle large quantities of contaminated dredged material. This year, very large volumes have been handled in connection with dredging in the Port of Gothenburg and for the new Hising Bridge (Hisingsbro).

12 Apr 2021
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– We’ve been working around the clock on this, says Martin Andersson, at Ragn-Sells in Gothenburg.

Ragn-Sells’ Marieholm plant in Gothenburg is unique. Here, waste is handled in-house via both rail and port. It is also a logistics facility that receives large flows from central Gothenburg for transshipment.

One of the materials that Marieholm receives is dredged material.

– When it comes to dredged material, we are the only port in Gothenburg that can receive dredged material at all; we are the only ones who can and have permission to take it ashore.

Maintenance dredging in the Port of Gothenburg has generated large volumes of dredged material.

– We’re talking about at least 200,000 cubic metres. They started by filling in a bay, but when it filled up they called us and needed help to take care of 20,000 cubic metres. We said yes, of course, and have now been working around the clock for two weeks, both on weekdays and at weekends.

Dredged material from the seabed is usually contaminated and treated as contaminated waste, and this was the case with the large volumes recently handled by Ragn-Sells.

Martin says that the requirements for this are very strict.  The material is stabilised and then deposited at our plant in Heljestorp in Vänersborg. Ragn-Sells’ way of working is unique and requires a lot from the organisation.

– This work has been wet and dirty, and it hasn’t helped that it’s been minus 20 degrees, so the material froze. But we managed to process a thousand cubic metres a day.

This year’s dredging season is now over. After the end of March dredging of the seabed is not allowed because it disturbs the fishing industry in the region.

– There are several major projects under way in Gothenburg that we will probably have to take care of next season, as we are the only ones who can, says Martin Andersson.

The dredging projects handled by Ragn-Sells Marieholm to date are the Marieholm Tunnel, Hising Bridge, P-Arken, Barken Viking, Älvsborg Fortress and the Port of Gothenburg.

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