Project record

Harwich Haven maintenance dredging 2026-2031

Harwich Haven harbour channel, foreground mudflat and water with Port of Felixstowe container cranes beyond

Harwich Haven Authority; harbour and Felixstowe gateway context, not evidence of Suffolk Dredging mobilisation

Harwich Haven Authority's March 2026 Find a Tender award notice names Suffolk Dredging LLP on a GBP 100 million excluding-VAT maintenance-dredging package. Scope covers clay and silt in Harwich Harbour, Port of Felixstowe deep and shallow berths and the western approach channel; sand at the eastern approach; Tiamat and other dredging methods; coastal beneficial-use sites; and early contractor involvement in capital and beneficial-use schemes. The notice records a planned 17 April 2026 start, but the award and contract remained pending in the published data and no later contract-details notice has been located.

Project signal

Award in United Kingdom

Current status GBP 100m award notice names Suffolk Dredging LLP for a five-year base term; a contract-details notice, reconciled extension limit and attribution of 2026 field activity remain unconfirmed Source confidence Confirmed

Location

United Kingdom / Europe

Segment

Maintenance dredging, beneficial use and dredging technology

Status

GBP 100m award notice names Suffolk Dredging LLP for a five-year base term; a contract-details notice, reconciled extension limit and attribution of 2026 field activity remain unconfirmed / Confirmed

Last checked

5 August 2026

Coverage

Related sectors

Maintenance dredging, beneficial use and dredging technology is the primary work classification. Related sectors connect this record to adjacent marine delivery and market coverage.

Subject index

Related subjects

These subject pages bring together related projects, technical articles, reports, and evidence methods.

Project anatomy

Contract scope and delivery roles

Client / authority
Harwich Haven Authority, statutory harbour authority and trust port
Delivery parties
Suffolk Dredging LLP - named supplier in the pending GBP 100m award, Boskalis - named by the award rationale as HHA's partner in the majority-controlled LLP, but not the separately named award supplier, Marine Dredging Services (UK) Ltd - current LLP designated member in Companies House, with package workshare undisclosed, Vessel operators, survey parties, beneficial-use delivery parties and other subcontractors - not allocated to the new package in the reviewed public record
Contract route
Find a Tender UK5 and UK6 notices describe an exempt utilities contract under paragraph 6 of Schedule 2 to the Procurement Act 2023 for an affiliated group undertaking. The rationale says at least 80% of the undertaking's turnover from goods, services and works is projected to derive from work for HHA for at least three years, and describes a majority-controlled LLP formed with Boskalis to commercialise and develop Tiamat while delivering HHA maintenance dredging. The 13 March 2026 award is published voluntarily for transparency; its award and contract status are pending and the scheduled future-signature date was 17 April 2026.
Execution window
The award notice records a base period from 17 April 2026 to 17 April 2031. Its renewal text allows one or two periods of 24 months, while the machine-readable maximum-extent date is 17 April 2033. Those fields do not reconcile if both extensions are exercised, so 2033 is retained as the published maximum date rather than inferring a 2035 end date.
Works package
Dredging of clay and silt from Harwich Harbour, Port of Felixstowe deep berths, the western end of the Harwich approach channel, shallower berths at Felixstowe, Harwich Navyard, Trinity House and Harwich International Port, and other Service Manager-directed areas. The package also covers sand dredging at the eastern approach, use of the Tiamat system and other techniques, coastal beneficial use of dredged material, and early contractor involvement in beneficial-use schemes and capital projects.
Marine interfaces
A live deep-water gateway serving vessels up to 17 m draft, recurrent harbour and berth maintenance, mixed clay-silt-sand management, Tiamat agitation dredging, conventional hopper and plough methods, hydrographic control, licensed dispersive disposal, coastal beneficial use and coordination with Felixstowe, Harwich and Stour traffic. HHA's approximately two-month dredging rhythm and about 500,000 m3 per round are programme context, not a guaranteed contract quantity.
Commercial evidence boundary
GBP 100 million excluding VAT and GBP 120 million including VAT are estimated award values for the published term, not committed spend, a guaranteed minimum, completed-work value or an allocated share for Boskalis. The authority's 30% cost-reduction objective and earlier Tiamat cost and emissions claims are procurement rationale and programme claims; they are not measured savings under the new award.

Project timeline

Material developments

Dated events that changed scope, counterparties, delivery, commissioning or operating status.

Open this project in the Change Log

HHA joined Suffolk Dredging LLP and became a person with significant control

Companies House filings establish the current corporate-control step after the scheduled contract date, but do not by themselves prove that the maintenance-dredging contract was signed or that field work transferred to the LLP.

Source

Published future-signature and base-term start date passed

The award notice scheduled signature and commencement for 17 April. No contract-details notice or equivalent owner confirmation has been located in the reviewed public process record.

Source

GBP 100m award notice named Suffolk Dredging LLP

HHA published the affiliated-entity rationale, five-year base term, extension language and combined conventional, Tiamat, beneficial-use and early-contractor-involvement scope while retaining pending award and contract status.

Source

HHA launched the 76.5-hectare Copperas Bay BUDS project

The owner named Boskalis Westminster for sediment pumping and Amicus Civil Engineering for temporary bunds and coir rolls under the predecessor operating context. That project is relevant beneficial-use evidence but not proof of Suffolk Dredging performance.

Source

Suffolk Dredging LLP was incorporated

Companies House records the LLP's formation at a Boskalis-linked Fareham address before HHA entered as a designated member in April 2026.

Source

Evidence gap

What remains unverified

Outstanding evidence

  • Contract-details notice or owner confirmation of signature and effective commencement
  • Reconciliation of the 17 April 2033 machine-readable maximum date with text offering one or two 24-month extensions
  • Named Tiamat unit, workboat, hopper dredger, plough, survey vessel and campaign operator
  • Allocation of 2026 notices-to-mariners fleet activity to Suffolk Dredging LLP, Boskalis or another contractor
  • Clay, silt and sand quantities by harbour, berth and approach-channel area
  • Inner Gabbard disposal, coastal beneficial-use sites and campaign-specific permit conditions
  • Early-contractor-involvement outputs for beneficial-use schemes and capital projects
  • Baseline and completion hydrography, charted-depth acceptance, environmental monitoring and annual spend
  • Suffolk Dredging member structure, subcontractors and any vessel or technology ownership arrangements

Reporting status

Award, confirmed confidence

Last checked 5 August 2026 across 12 cited sources. The dated timeline above carries the project events.

Last checked 5 August 2026 Cited sources 12

Sources and related records

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Project sources 12