New dredger pumps up tourist economy
This newbuild cutter suction dredger was delivered to the town of Pollica in Southern Italy last week.
Italian dredging manufacturer Italdraghe delivered a newbuild SGT 250 cutter suction dredger to the local Town Council of Pollica, in the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park in Southern Italy last week.
The economy of this beautiful resort is heavily reliant on its seasonal tourist industry, which in turn depends to a large degree upon the harbour and the beaches skirting around its coastline.
Over the years a great deal of sand has been washed into the small port of Acciaroli, which is now in desperate need of dredging if it is to remain fully functional. Taking a leaf out of the book of the nearby Town Council of Casalvelino, which purchased a small PD 150 CSD from Italdraghe back in 2007, the Pollica authorities launched their own dredger tender at the end of 2010.
Although the dredger can work down to a depth of 8m, most dredging will take place in waters of no more than 5m in depth. Surveys have shown that the material to be removed consists of a variety of different types of solids ranging from very fine sand to pebbles and small stones of up to 160 mm in diameter. Once the initial urgent dredging work involving the removal of 40,000 cu/m of solids has been completed, the CSD will be used for local beach nourishment and coastal maintenance projects throughout the year.
This SGT 250 dredger has a number of interesting features, such as inclined, full view front cabin windows with darkened glass to protect against glare; a fully soundproofed and insulated, wood lined cabin; overhead electronic operator controls; oversized batteries for greater autonomy; a fully equipped onboard workbench in the engine room; and a daily production logging system.
The 20.75m LOA, 4.56m wide vessel has two spuds and is powered by an Iveco C13 marine diesel rated 500 hp at 2,000 rpm. The suction pipe diameter is 300mm and the Draghe Lario PD 250R dredge pump discharges through a 250mm diameter pipe. The dredger was supplied together with over 500m of extremely wear resistant HDPE floating pipeline.
As part of the turn key package, Italdraghe will also provide more than one month’s onsite training to local operators.
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