Principles of dredging operations within seaport water and inland water areas of Vietnam

Principles of dredging operations within seaport water and inland water areas (Picture from Internet)

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1. Principles of dredging operations within seaport water and inland water areas

- Dredging operations shall be required to conform to provisions set forth herein and other relevant legislations in order to meet requirements for channel specifications, maritime safety, security, inland waterway traffic safety, environmental pollution prevention, river bed, bank and floodplain erosions and landslides, safety for dykes, water facilities, infrastructure, maritime infrastructure and inland waterway infrastructure well as other facilities to conserve and prevent the waste and loss of nation's natural resources.

- Avoid carrying out dredging operations within seaport water and inland water areas which are likely to hinder vessels from sheltering in the flood season or in case of calamities that may occur.

- Maintenance dredging of sea waters facing against wharves, harbors; waterways of inland ports and wharves, and dedicated channels of organizations and individuals shall only be carried out after the preparation and approval of economic and technical reports in accordance with construction law, Chapter II of this Decree, and relevant provisions of maritime law and regulations on the repair and renovation of inland ports and wharves.

- Dredging operations using public investment capital must comply with the law on public investment.

- Encourage and enable organizations and enterprises of all economic sectors to dredge, maintain, and invest in developing maritime and inland waterway infrastructure, and take responsibility for investment costs and effectiveness; enhance the role of organizations and enterprises in sharing the responsibility for investing in and maintaining national maritime and inland waterway infrastructure as part of port development projects.

- Dredged material disposal sites (hereinafter referred to as disposal sites) may receive all or a portion of dredged material from projects and works within the province and neighboring provinces.

(Article 4 of Decree No. 57/2024/ND-CP of Vietnam’s Government)

2. Requirements concerning dredging, disposal and placement of dredged materials

- Before carrying out dredging operations, the project owners shall notify their action plans (including such information as schedule, duration, progress, scale, type and quantity of dredging equipment, dredging forms, onshore or offshore disposal sites) to specialized regulatory authorities (e.g. regional maritime administrations and regional inland waterway administrations) and provincial People’s Committees where dredging projects are located, and installing project signboards near project sites. The project signboard must give information about the approval-granting authority, project owners, investors, project management units, supervisors, contractors, project scale, schedule, commencement time, completion time, funding sources, project implementation forms, onshore or offshore disposal sites.

- Owners, stakeholders and investors in projects for dredging of navigable channels within seaport water and inland water areas shall be responsible for supervising dredging, disposal and placement of dredged materials from the beginning to the end of dredging operations, including but not limited to the following tasks:

+ Conducting the close supervision of dedicated dredging equipment in order to ensure dredging operations are carried out within the boundaries of the approved projects and in compliance with project designs;

+ Conducting the strict supervision of the routes of carriers designed for transport and disposal of dredged materials offshore, disposal of dredged materials at locations which are approved by authorized licensing authorities;

+ The management of dredging surveillance system data in order to meet demands of management, examination, surveillance;

+ Conducting the supervision of dredging operations to ensure conformance to safety, environmental protection and other requirements in accordance with legislative regulations in force.

- Dredging equipment, dredged material carriers must be equipped with dredging surveillance equipment and comply with all operational requirements as stipulated by law.

- Requirements of dredging surveillance systems:

+ Dredging surveillance equipment installed on dredging equipment:  must include AIS devices in order to provide information about positions of dredging equipment via AIS shore station to AIS data center;

+ Dredging surveillance equipment installed on carriers intended for transport and disposal of dredged materials must include AIS devices in order to provide information about courses, routes and journeys of these carriers via AIS shore station to AIS data center; cameras providing images of dredged material holds upon receipt of dredged materials along the route to dumping sites, and from the beginning to the end of disposal of dredged materials at the prescribed locations;

+ Dredging surveillance equipment must be fixed in the appropriate position on dredging equipment and dredged material carriers in order to facilitate recording of all necessary data and images, and must be designed with measures for preventing and controlling any impact that may falsify data (e.g., security lead or seal attachments, etc.), and ensure they work under continuous and stable conditions during the project execution period.

+ The cost of installing surveillance equipment on dredging equipment and carriers shall be borne by the contractor. The AIS shore station to AIS data center shall be either invested in or outsourced by the project owner or investor.

(Article 5 of Decree No. 57/2024/ND-CP of Vietnam’s Government)

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