Belgium's Jan De Nul has nearly doubled the capacity of the Pearl River with its 'mega-jumbo' Vasco da Gama now rated at 33,000m 3capacity. It is a measure of how quickly pursuit of the dredging industry's holy grail of 'cost per m 3' has brought standards forward that the seminal Pearl River requires extension.

The vessel is being cut in half at the Pan United yard for a prefabricated 37m midsection to be installed which will boost capacity to 24,146 m 3. IHC Holland, which originally built the vessel, has provided engineering for the extension and will also supply the new deep dredging installation which will enable Pearl River to work to depths of 130m.

In other dredging news from the Far East, the recently formed Dutch contractor Ballast Ham Dredging have reached agreement with Malaysia's Integrated Marine Works to form a new national dredging and reclamation company.

Ballast Ham has transferred the 12,500 m 3capacity trailing suction hopper dredger HAM 310 to the new company Integrated Marine Works Dredging and into Malaysian registry.

MJ Information No: 17301