Drogheda Port Company’s Chief Executive and the Chair of its Board are to be invited to attend a meeting of Louth County Council on the future of the former dredger, Hebble Sand which remains idle in the centre of the port town.
The 757-ton Hebble Sand has been berthed at the town’s North Quay for around a decade. The dredger which is now more than 60 years old, used to operate as a self-propelled grab-hopper dredger out of neighbouring Dundalk but originally had a career in the UK.
Local Independent councillor, Kevin Callan made the proposal at the Louth County Council’s monthly meeting.
Cllr Callan wants to raise the issue of the 47m Hebble Sand that partially sank while berthed in the River Boyne in 2022 but was subsequently re-floated.
He added that although action was taken, the Hebble Sand has not been removed, and members of the Borough District of Drogheda have been unable to get a representative of the Drogheda Port Company to attend their own monthly meeting.
LMFM News which reports on the story, also has an audio clip from the Councillor.
Afloat adds that Hebble Sand during its Irish career, carried out numerous contract assignments in ports throughout the island of Ireland.
Among the more high-profile projects was in the preparation prior to the installation in Dublin of the Samuel Beckett swing bridge which arrived by barge from The Netherlands and works in Belfast's Queens Quay on the Lagan close to the city-centre.
At more than half a century old, the Hebble Sand built in 1963 by Richard (Shipbuilders) of Lowestoft, England, who built the vessel for British Dredging. The grab-hopper was later used by Associated British Ports (ABP) to serve a network of ports.
