Invitation to the WODCON XVII POST-CONGRESS TOUR

Sponsored by Josef Möbius Bau-Aktiengesellschaft

Dear Prospective Congress Delegate,

It is not too early to start making plans for 2004. Make sure that you set aside enough time to join our 3-day catamaran-tour that will take you from Hamburg via Neuwerk, Helgoland and Sylt back to Hamburg showing a fascinating area with a sensitive environment. This includes the Elbe Tidal River Estuary as well as the rough coastal zone of the North Sea with its Wadden Sea area. Needless to say that the tour ties in with the dual meaning in our Congress title, ‘Dredging in a Sensitive Environment’.

The Elbe Tidal River System contains the fairway from the Port of Hamburg to the North Sea. Everybody knows that this link to the world cannot be maintained without dredging. With a self-evident regularity, sediments settle down in the system and are removed by dredging contractors under instructions from the Federal Government or the Port Authority of Hamburg. Discussions about deepening the fairway for larger ships clearly lead to the question of dredging in this sensitive environment. So far only a few insiders have recognized that the discussions do not focus on the real point:

When thinking of sediments in a Tidal River System one has to include the whole system of the Coastal Zone. Without knowledge of the Natural Sediment Management System of such an area it is impossible to find sustainable development solutions. These sustainable nature-protecting solutions can only be provided by human intervention.

The Post Congress Tour of WODCON XVII will highlight, in an excellent and unprecedented combination, some of the most important tools and mechanisms of such a system. The transport by Catamaran is unconventional, as is the tour by horse-driven carriages through the Wadden sea areas at low tide.

Participants will have the opportunity to watch dredging works developing salt meadows, which are protected as a jewel of the Wadden Sea National Park at the island of Neuwerk, as well as the development of artificial sand dunes at Nigehörn, flushed up as compensation for another sandy island called Scharhörn, which could be destroyed in the next centuries by natural developments. This is especially interesting for those who are considering artificial sandy islands as a cover of sub-aquatic stored sediments in coastal areas.

Beach nourishment at Sylt is another very important story. The landscape of this island is much loved by generations of people who like to spend their holidays and their money there, where you can hear, feel and smell the North Sea climate at its best. This location is one of the best for studying the conflict between natural development and nourishment by dredgers.

The island of Helgoland is an impressive natural monument in the German Bight raised many thousand years ago by the pressure from hundred-metre high glaciers on the salt banks that were originally deep below the present surface. This red rock has been used as a pilot station for over a hundred years. From here the entrance to the river system really begins, and this is the point at which one has to start thinking about the whole complexity of the Elbe Tidal River System.

High and low tide; flood and ebb; storm floods from the sea and storm ebbs from the coast; sedimentation and erosion; flora, fauna and habitats are all to be seen. This fascinating landscape sometimes appears as sea and sometimes as land. Here, changes in the rhythms of the moon and the sun can be felt, smelt and experienced.

On our way down and up the Elbe River different river areas are to be seen, which could also be developed by dredging with the aim of supporting nature. Several examples can be seen where natural features have vanished or will vanish in the future through natural effects that are typical of Tidal River Systems. If nature is to be protected, human influence is needed. Many more ideas about how to provide new ways of using human influence to establish an optimized sustainable Tidal River System must be found, and good ideas would be enthusiastically welcomed!

We are sure that the tour will give you some very interesting impressions of tidal river systems and, hopefully, a better understanding of the importance of preserving their natural features.

The sponsor of this tour the German company, Josef Möbius Bau-Aktiengesellschaft, has absorbed the total costs of the catamaran, which has been chartered exclusively for the tour. The overnight costs, lunch and dinners will be to your account. We will, of course, continue to try and obtain sponsorship for part of these items as well. The tour will start on Friday, 1st of October and will end on Monday, 4th of October in the port of Hamburg/ St. Pauli Landungsbrücken.

I would like to stress that although my invitation focuses on the dredging aspects of the tour, the organisers will make sure that the partners, who may have less technical interest, will also have an unforgettable time. The expansive landscape and the unique locations we will be visiting have much to offer to those who love nature. Please visit the WODCON XVII web site for more information.

You and your partner are most welcome.

With best regards

On behalf of the Sponsor, and the WODCON XVII Executive Committee,

Heinz Glindemann
Head of River Division
Hamburg / State Ministry for Economic and Labor Affairs /
Department of Port and River Engineering, Germany