The digger brought in to dredge the Oamaru Harbour entrance starts work yesterday. Photo by David Bruce.
The council has tested different methods, including a suction pump on a pontoon, to deepen the harbour entrance between Holmes Wharf and the end of the breakwater.
Bringing a dredge to Oamaru was too expensive, according to the council.
Assets group manager Neil Jorgensen said the long-reach digger on a pontoon would remove material from the entrance and place it on the eastern side, where currents would wash it on to the foreshore between Holmes Wharf and Oamaru Creek.
The council is aiming for a channel 4m deep, 140m long and 20m wide.
