The Cabinet invited the Port Manager, a representative from Blue Ocean Dredging, and the General Manager of APUA, to address the issue of dredging in the North Sound area leading to Crabbes.
There is a need to bring bigger cement-carrying vessels to Crabbes in order to make more cement regularly available to contractors. At present, the cement delivered to Crabbes by smaller vessels is all sold within 24 hours; one week passes before the storage unit is re-supplied.
For this reason, the larger vessels, requiring greater draughts, compel that the channel leading to Crabbes must be dredged to a greater depth.
APUA also purchases Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) to power a modern electricity plant that has recently been built. The ships which bring the LNG also need a draught deeper than what now exists; hence, the need for dredging and the involvement of APUA in the discussions.
Blue Ocean will join with another firm to minimize the number of days which the dredging will require. APUA will also make the payments to Blue Ocean for the dredging work.
