A digger dredging the Port Otago basin at Port Chalmers fills a barge yesterday while a tug tows in a second.
Parts of the harbour are being deepened from 13m to 14m to allow ships with a larger container capacity to enter.
Port Otago chief executive Geoff Plunket said work started on the project two weeks ago, with an initial completion target of December 22 to allow ships such as Royal Caribbean's $1.4 billion Ovation of the Seas to enter the harbour.
It will be the largest cruise ship to visit New Zealand.
A trial was carried out a fortnight ago and dredging work would continue Mondays to Thursdays, 24 hours a day, for ''a couple of weeks''.
The dredging is part of Port Otago's two-year, $30 million-$45 million plan to allow larger ships to enter the harbour and is expected to be completed by December next year.
