Jan De Nul Group’s new water injection dredger Pancho was launched at the Neptune Marine shipyard near Dordrecht in the Netherlands, according to the company's release.
The design of this new build vessel is based on an existing vessel design from Neptune’s workboat portfolio. Together with the engineering department of Neptune, Jan De Nul integrates its in-house built dredging equipment, including the dredge pump and dredge pipes, the winches, hydraulics and the necessary equipment for an adapted pipeline routing on the fore ship.
Meanwhile, Jan De Nul ordered a second water injection dredger, with the same dimensions and characteristics, from the same shipyard.
A water injection dredger is smaller than a trailing suction hopper dredger and can therefore be better deployed in ports and rivers where the work area is often smaller. In water injection dredging, water is injected under low pressure into the subsoil, causing the soil material to move.
This dredging technique is especially suitable for maintenance dredging in areas where sediments were recently deposited, or for moving fine sand over shorter distances.
Jan De Nul currently has 5 water injection dredging vessels in its fleet, including the Pancho and another sister vessel under construction at Neptune Marine in the Netherlands.