Navigation-Channel Dredging Recovery Leader

The mandate

The marine infrastructure director resigned after the principal dredger failed and new surveys showed accelerated siltation at two channel reaches. Terminals continue nominating vessel sizes against historic declared depth, pilots apply local margins and the dredging contractor reports volume rather than restored navigable condition. Environmental windows narrow the recovery sequence. A temporary executive must connect survey, dredging, traffic and customer decisions before export commitments become unsafe or infeasible.

Within three weeks, a recovery executive must take the channel programme for ten months while the permanent search and failed-equipment investigation continue independently. Controlled bathymetry, temporary draught decisions and replacement dredging capacity form the first 30-day baseline. Outcome-based work packages are then tested through two hydrographic surveys and their seasonal sediment cycles. The final stage must stabilise declared depth, close emergency plant charters and require the successor to set the next annual maintenance campaign.

Permanent ownership begins only when every channel reach carries current survey confidence, dredging is accepted by navigable outcome rather than volume, declared draught and vessel nominations follow one authority path, and two survey cycles remain within approved tolerance. Sediment assumptions, environmental constraints, contractor performance, plant condition, traffic limitations, disposal permissions and the twelve-month survey-and-dredging plan must all be transferred as controlled evidence.

The interim may direct infrastructure staff, set dredging sequence, accept qualifying work evidence, charter temporary plant up to six months and approve recovery spend up to USD 8 million. Declared navigational limits, contract termination, disposal-site change, environmental variation, capital and permanent appointments require authorised approval. Harbourmasters, pilots and masters retain traffic and navigation authority; the interim cannot certify hydrographic or environmental compliance.

Long-term channel deepening, concession renegotiation, mineral-rail strategy, legal claims and permanent dredger purchase are outside scope. The leader will preserve evidence and recommend referral decisions but will not become hydrographic certifier or claims counsel. The assignment is to restore maintainable navigable depth through the existing authorised channel.

Why this seat is open

A sudden resignation followed equipment failure and unexpected seabed change while export vessels remained scheduled. Survey, dredging and terminal teams lack one executive who can allocate scarce plant and reset customer assumptions. The board has delegated temporary recovery authority until stable maintenance and permanent leadership are in place.

What you will own

• Establish controlled bathymetry, survey confidence, sediment movement and declared-depth evidence for every critical channel reach.
• Decide dredging sequence and qualifying temporary plant within environmental, traffic and financial delegation.
• Convert contractor work from volume reporting to accepted navigable outcome with survey and recurrence evidence.
• Align vessel nominations and terminal plans with current draught decisions without assuming navigation authority.
• Chair weekly survey-dredge-traffic control and publish limitations, work fronts, decision clocks and customer consequence.
• Close emergency plant and workarounds only after two survey cycles demonstrate maintainable condition.
• Induct the successor through contractor positions, plant state, disposal constraints and the annual campaign plan.

Candidate qualifications

• Held port channel, hydrographic or dredging operations authority through material siltation and equipment failure.
• Has restored navigable depth using outcome-based contractor control rather than reported dredged volume alone.
• Understands bathymetry, survey confidence, sedimentation, dredger capability, disposal and traffic constraints operationally.
• Can govern declared-depth evidence while preserving harbourmaster, pilot, master and hydrographer authority.
• Personally chartered or reallocated dredging plant under a fixed environmental and vessel-demand window.
• Completed a permanent handover after proving channel condition through repeated survey cycles under changing sediment and traffic conditions.

Non-negotiables

• Available in Maputo within three weeks for six-day onsite recovery and monthly field reviews.
• Brings direct channel-dredging authority; civil design or survey contracting alone is insufficient.
• Accepts hydrographic, environmental, traffic, navigation, contract and board approval boundaries.
• Will disclose dredging, survey, terminal, mining, equipment and environmental interests before appointment.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe a channel whose dredged volume looked adequate while navigable condition remained deficient.
2. 49 words maximum. Confirm your Maputo start date and the largest dredging recovery you commanded.
3. 49 words maximum. Which survey evidence must exist before changing vessel draught assumptions?