€200m orders keep IHC Merwede rolling
The 13,000 kW cutter suction dredger Shanti Sagar XVI is launched at IHC Merwde’s Sliedrecht yard last month.
IHC Merwede has recently secured orders for advanced vessels and equipment in its core markets of dredging and offshore to the value of €200m.
The latest agreements confirmed by IHC Merwede include a new pipelaying vessel for Subsea 7, a trailing suction hopper dredger for Weeks Marine Inc. (USA), an environmentally friendly deepwater dredger for Zheijang Dredging (China), and a 5,000 ton capacity carousel-lay system for Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. These orders reinforce the group’s belief that there will be continued demand for its vessels, equipment, and life-cycle support in the future.
In the USA, IHC Merwede has secured an agreement for a trailing suction hopper dredger with a 6,540m3 capacity for Weeks Marine Inc., USA. Weeks has ordered an engineering and components package from IHC Merwede, while its partner in the USA, BAE Systems, is contracted to build the vessel with a length of 109m and a beam of 24m. The agreement highlights IHC Merwede’s ongoing strategy of internationalisation.
Chinese company, Zheijang Dredging, has ordered an advanced environmentally friendly deepwater cutter suction dredger which will be optimised to work in polluted lake and reservoir dredging projects, and is unique in its class. The Beaver 4040 is the first cutter suction dredger designed for sustainable dredging to a depth of 40m and will be built at the components factory of IHC China Support in Guangzhou.
Meanwhile, the naming and launch ceremony for the 13,000kW stationary cutter suction dredger Shanti Sagar XVI took place last month at the IHC Merwede shipyard at Sliedrecht in the Netherlands. The vessel will be delivered in the second quarter of this year. IHC Merwede is building the ship for Mundra Port Special Economic Zone Ltd., which is part of the Adani Group.
The new cutter suction dredger is an IHC Beaver 9029C, which is capable of dredging a wide range of materials and is equipped with three Cutter Special dredge pumps, which are specially designed with a large sphere passage for cutter suction dredging operations. The anchor boom and spud-tilting installations allow the dredger to operate in remote areas with limited support equipment and the large fuel oil carrying capacity also allows for a high level of autonomy.
Dredging is critical to the development of Mundra Port and the work is managed by Mundra Port Special Economic Zone’s dredging fleet. This consists almost exclusively of cutter suction dredgers built by IHC Merwede and the Shanti Sagar XVI will be the largest vessel supplied to date.
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