Van Oord has ordered two trailing suction hopper dredgers with a hopper volume of approx. 17,000 m3. Spanish Construcciones Navales del Norte S.L., LaNaval, will build the ships at its yard in Bilbao. Both vessels will be delivered in 2017, the company said in its press release.
The order is in line with Van Oord’s innovative investment programme and is part of the replacement programme of older trailing suction hopper dredgers. The new vessels are a contribution to the further modernisation of Van Oord’s fleet and mark the start of a new generation of trailing suction hopper dredgers. The dredgers will have a hopper capacity of approximately 17,000 m3, a length of 158 metres and a width of 36 metres. The vessels will be equipped with two suction pipes with submerged e-driven dredge pumps, two shore discharge dredge pumps, six bottom doors and a total installed power of 23,680 kW. They will have accommodation for 38 persons.
‘These modern vessels will strengthen the mid-class section of our hopper fleet. The vessels are characterised by a large deadweight in combination with a shallow draft, which makes them very competitive in various markets, including the market for coastal protection projects’, says COO Paul Verheul.
During the design phase, special attention was paid to the energy-efficiency of the vessels. The design includes several aspects which result in substantial reductions in fuel consumption and consequently a fall in CO2 emissions. The vessels are being equipped with innovative and sustainable systems and will obtain a Green Passport and Clean Ship Notation. Van Oord has designed the vessels in-house in cooperation with C-Job Naval Architects.
About LaNaval
LaNaval is a shipyard located in Bilbao, Spain. LaNaval’s facilities cover 300,000 m2, with various workshops for steel fabrication, blocks’ outfitting, sandblasting and painting, piping fabrication and two slipways (290 m long and 42.5 m wide). Since 2002, LaNaval has delivered seven trailing suction hopper dredgers, including two that are the largest in the market with a capacity of 46,000 m3. This has made LaNaval one of the major shipyards for the construction of TSHD’s. During 2013, repair and dry-docking activities were restarted following a substantial investment in one of its two dry-docks. At present, LaNaval has 200 permanent staff with an additional subcontracting capacity of up to 2,000 persons.