To the beach
It is still somewhat early in the season, but bathers are again welcome to enjoy France's Atlantic beaches near Bordeaux. Ballast Ham Dredging is currently putting the finishing touches to a beach replenishment project in the Bay of Arcachon.
With the Dune du Pyla as a backdrop (at around 100 metres, the highest dune in Europe), the trailing suction hopper dredgers Heron and Sara have brought ashore some one million cubic metres of sand in two months. 'The bulk of the sand has been deposited on the foreshore, in other words in the area between high and low water, with the object of protecting the beach from erosion', explains site agent Theo Teunissen. The contract was worth €2 million.