There is no denying that last year we could have filled a whole magazine with news about new dredgers being named, modifications to existing dredgers and orders for new dredgers.
As we saw in last month’s issue dredging contractors are busy working on numerous projects around the world and looking at their investments of new equipment it seems that they expect a continuation of these projects over the next couple of years.
Jan De Nul
After successful investments between 2007 and 2011 amounting to more than EUR 2 billion, Jan De Nul
Group decided to add 3 more vessels to the fleet – two trailing suction hopper dredgers with a hopper capacity of 14,000m3 each and the ‘Joseph Plateau’. Back in August 2012, the Belgium-based dredging contractor named their fall pipe and mining vessel “Joseph Plateau” at the Spanish shipyard Construcciones Navales de Norte in Sestao. The 191.5m long vessel will be used for precise rock dumping to a depth of 2km. The system for the unfolding of the fall pipe is extremely advanced and operates fully automatically. At the bottom of the fall pipe there is a ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) that accurately corrects the position of the lower-end of the fall pipe. The vessel has a 31,500 tonnes loading capacity and makes it possible to dump 2,000 tonnes of rock per hour at a depth of 2km. The fall pipe vessel will mostly be deployed in the offshore industry in which oil and gas pipes have to be installed at large depths. The fall pipe can process boulders with a diameter up to 40cm, which is more than any other fall pipe vessel on the market. The Joseph Plateau is also suitable for deep-sea mining operations i.e. for recovery of minerals from the seabed and cable laying activities. The vessel will be delivered beginning 2013 and a first project is already ensured.
The two trailing suction hopper dredgers (TSHD) were ordered at the end of 2010. The ‘Pedro Alvares Cabral’ was delivered in October 2012, while the ‘Bartolomeu Dias’ will be delivered in the course of 2013. Both TSHDs were constructed at the Uljanik Brodogradiliste shipyard in Pula, Croatia. These vessels are especially suitable for operations in shallow and restricted waters. Carrying capacity will be around 22,500 tonnes at a draught of only 10m. As with all vessels in the fleet, special attention is paid to the environmental impact. Efficient power consumption, low emissions, optimised hull design, waste treatment on board all contribute to efficient and environmental-friendly dredging. These environmental measures resulted in the award of a ‘Clean Ship’ certificate. As with most of the large dredging contractors the vessel has been developed in-house, based on the experience gained designing and commissioning 8 new hopper dredgers in the last 3 years. The latest order was placed with Ravestein for the design and construction of a new backhoe dredger. The vessel will have a total installed power of 2.150 kW and maximum operating depth will be 20m. The pontoon will have one hydraulically operated spud carrier, three tilting spud legs and will be delivered in January 2014.
DEME
In November, neighbouring dredging contractor DEME named its new heavy-duty cutter suction dredger (CSD) “Amazone” at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre in Singapore. This new sea-going dredger is self-propelled and features no less than 12,860 kW of total installed power. The ‘Amazone’ has an integrated barge loading facility enabling to discharge both through the traditional floating pipeline and directly into a barge moored alongside. The increased discharge power allows for covering significantly larger distances between the dredging area and the reclamation area when pumping ashore. The ‘Amazone’ is specially equipped for dredging hard rock formations. She has a rock cutter-head designed for great production rates with low down-time, thanks to an advanced quick teeth replacement system, a low spillage due to an optimised hydraulic design and highly durable teeth adapters with virtually maintenance-free contact surfaces. The ‘Amazone’ is able to dredge at water depths up to 30m. Singapore has always been an important partner for the DEME Group. Many of their ‘green’ vessels have substantially contributed to the extension of the city state and all activities and operations in the Far East area are monitored and coordinated from the Singapore office. The Amazone is the last vessel to be christened of DEME’s extensive investment program, involving the construction of almost 20 main dredging and marine engineering vessels over the last five years. DEME is strongly evolving from a contractor to a global solution provider. Besides the further growth in core-business activities of dredging and land reclamation, the Group is focusing on new projects and challenges in the field near-shore and far-shore renewable energy, offshore oil and gas activities and sea mineral resources.
Damen Dredging Equipment
At the end of last year, Netherlands-based Damen Dredging Equipment announced it re-designed the Chinese dredger “Jie Long” to adapt it to a cutter dredging at the important depth of 50m. This deep dredging is required for its contribution to the infrastructural works of the Macau-Hong Kong-Zhu Hai transport link. Damen not only engineered and delivered the components, but also supervised the outfitting process. The “Jie Long” started life as a plain suction dredger, and had been converted long ago in a relatively standard cutter suction dredger. As the owner, CCCC Guangzhou Dredging Co, has major refurbishment plans for the “Jie Long”. The plans included the facility to dredge at minus 50m, a task the “Jie Long” could not accomplish in its current state. The complete refurbishment project was awarded to Damen Dredging Equipment. Damen first visited the “Jie Long” to asses the state and outfitting of the dredger. As a result, the engineering team could start to design new customised ladder hinge points in the pontoons. Furthermore a completely new ladder arrangement was designed, which included a submerged dredge pump and a cutter unit. The cutter unit can be replaced by a dustpan head, which will be used to clean the tunnel track just before the tunnel elements are positioned. The transport link Macau-Hong Kong-Zhu Hai link is to reduce passenger and freight transport over land by creating a bridge and tunnel alternative, cutting travel times by a almost 4 hours to a mere 40 minutes.