Mayor calls in Danish barge to “rainbow” tonnes of sand off Gold Coast beaches

THIS mega barge has come all the way from Denmark and will sit off the Gold Coast for the next 16 weeks undertaking a $13.9 million project to save our beaches. Here’s how:

THE Gold Coast’s biggest offshore dredging program has kicked off with a 111m long barge dredging tonnes of sand and pumping it toward beaches today.

The $13.9 million Beach Nourishing Project aims to increase the amount of sand on open beaches which are vulnerable to erosion caused by powerful cyclones and wild surf.

For the next 16 weeks crew on the Balder R hopper dredger owned by Danish company Rohde Nielsen will work all hours dredging tonnes of sand from deepwater to the surf zone.

The boat will work from The Spit south to Palm Beach.

The new 111m dredge replenishing sand on the beach just off Surfers Paradise. Picture: John Gass

Mayor Tom Tate said the project was driven by council engineers who had studied data from wave buoys, beach surveys, camera monitoring and computer modelling before calling in the barge.

“This project involves dredging three million cubic metres of sand from deep water offshore sand supply areas and relocating it around the wave-break zone,” Cr Tate said.

He said the barge would either dump sand from the bottom of its hull or by “rainbowing” the sand from the vessel’s hull.

Mayor Tom Tate at Surfers Paradise beach to view the 111 metre dredge in action. Picture: John Gass

The project is part of council’s Ocean Beaches Strategy.

Council engineers said the sand replenished in the next 16 weeks would benefit the Gold Coast for at least the next 15 years.

Mayor Tom Tate and Cr Paul Taylor at the beach this morning. . Picture: John Gass

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