EDITORIAL

The Terra et Aqua you are holding in your hands is the 125th issue of the journal and this year marks the 40th anniversary of its founding in 1971. It was first published as Dredging/Dragage and had a worldwide distribution. Its publication was announced in many civil engineering and financial trade papers and according to reports “more than a thousand requests for additional copies” came from organisations and executives associated with the preparation of maritime projects. With this “proven demand”, the following year IADC decided to launch a second publication known first as Terra and soon after – as it is now – as Terra et Aqua, Land and Water. The name stuck. And so did the concept to provide all interested parties with information about maritime construction projects not generally available or easily accessible.

Looking at the history of Terra, we can do no better than to honour its first editor, Nic Oosterbaan, by quoting the editorial as he wrote it in that first issue stating the mission and the vision of this then-new dredging magazine:

Practically all countries feel the need to develop port facilities further, to deepen and widen access channels or to create land out of the sea. The basis is the desire to stimulate economic growth through modern technology. What is being done today was technically impossible a decade ago. This new scope makes viable projects which were once merely pipe dreams. Some, indeed, are now realities of great social and economic significance. Information concerning actual problems and actual solutions may stimulate responsible officers all over the world into thinking up new solutions for the particular problems with which they have to deal. Yet such information is often available only in scientific journals or technical trade papers which are sometimes not widely circulated or readily accessible. Terra is a response to that situation.... It is a journal devoted to the development of ports and waterways and the development of hydraulic engineering in general. Its aims are to disseminate information useful to the civil servant, politician or financial expert who is involved in local problems and bears responsibility for the decisions which have to be made….

The words Nic Oosterbaan wrote 40 years ago were prophetic and could have been written now: “What is being done today was technically impossible a decade ago. This new scope makes viable projects which were once merely pipe dreams”, projects of “great social and economic significance” – the Hong Kong Airport, Maasvlakte 2, Palm Island and Dubai, Oresund Fixed Link and so many more projects are now dreams that have been realised.

Dredging technology continues to change, grow, improve; innovations occur at a rapid pace. The dredging industry continues to think big and accomplish engineering feats that were only dreams, and the mission of Terra is as compelling as when it was started: To disseminate useful information and capture the imagination of those engaged in dredging and maritime construction. To make clear to officials and the public the economic and technological advantages that the dredging contractor has to offer and the contribution of dredging to the ongoing social and economic prosperity of our world.

Koos van Oord
President, IADC