A dredge completes the cleaning of the Portu dock in Barakaldo
The boat has been removing sludge for a little over a month in an environment that will house the future Bilbao Ría 2000 riverside park
A dredge completes the cleaning of the bottom of the Portu basin in Barakaldo, in the area where the Bilbao Ría 2000 will condition the future riverside park of the manufacturing town. For just over a month the vessel has been working in the area as part of a maintenance operation carried out by the Port Authority.
Neighbors in the area highlight the large amount of sludge and materials extracted in the area, which had already been exposed in recent years. This is how the equinoctial tides occurred, derived from the gravitational influence of the sun and the moon, in which the bed full of mollusks, ancient foundations and stored remains could be seen.
It is precisely in this area that the gasoline line between Barakaldo and Erandio develops its work, which for years has been demanding a dredging of the surroundings to be able to carry out its service at low tides. “Where they are doing it, it does not bring me any benefit, since I have the main problems on the Erandio side,” lamented the worker in charge of the boats, Óscar Suárez, who has put this business up for sale. According to him, he pointed out, it is not the first time that dredging has been undertaken in the estuary, since they are frequent when it is necessary to guarantee the passage of a deep-draft ship, although it is the first that has been recorded in that environment.
background samples
The dredger is not the first vessel that has been working in the area in recent months. In October, a ship capable of drilling deep into the seabed took samples in the same environment with a view to the necessary measurements for the future mobile walkway between Barakaldo and Erandio, dated for the year 2024. Then the hardness and the geological characteristics of the soil under the estuary to confirm the data previously obtained by electrical and seismic tomography.
The clean space now appears in the project for the future park as a beach area with access to the estuary itself and a pedestrian promenade. Last month the project raised its cost to 8.3 million to attract companies.