Italy – UK collaboration for marina dredger

The vessel, to be constructed by Italian dredger manufacturer Italdraghe SpA to a design by Norfolk UK based Goodchild Marine Services Ltd, was scheduled to be delivered to Yacht Havens Limited at the end of 2012.

Yacht Havens, based in Hampshire UK, commissioned Goodchild Marine to design and build the dredger specifically for carrying out maintenance work at its various marinas located throughout the UK. With over 3,500 berths to manage, maintenance dredging proves an ongoing challenge, especially since it needs to be carried out with the least possible disruption to berth-holding clients.

Goodchild Marine scoured the market for a company that had the experience to build a specialist dredger of the quality required for this difficult task and chose Italdraghe SpA.

Goodchild Marine initially developed the design concept to make it possible to carry out berth dredging in marinas even during the summer months when they are at their busiest. Goodchild owns a dredger built some years ago for the task.

The dredger being built by Italdraghe SpA develops this design concept further and in fact, the vessel’s extreme manoeuvrability means that only a maximum of two moored boats will need to be moved out of their berths at any one time. This creates just enough space for the dredger to move in, carrying out its task and then reversing back out, before moving on to the next berth.

As the dredger has both a rear rudder propeller and front thruster it is extremely easy to manoeuvre within tight spaces. This flexibility is further enhanced by the dredger’s specially-designed spuds, which allow it to walk on the water bed, providing very accurate and controlled vessel movement in and around tight berths. With no need for anchors or mooring wires whilst working, the dredger causes little disruption to marina traffic.

Another important feature of this low-noise, one man operated dredger, is its revolutionary dredging ladder with swivel joints that allow the dredging head to reach right up to clean thoroughly under marina pontoons and walkways, doing away with the need to dismantle them.

When not working, the dredging arm, as well as the spuds, can be folded away on board the dredger itself. This facilitates dredger transportation between different locations as the complete vessel can travel, ready assembled, on a single lorry from one Yacht Havens marina to the next.

Featuring an Italdraghe PD 180 pump and an Iveco C87 diesel engine, the dredger is being built entirely in Italdraghe’s specialist dredger building yard on Italy’s Adriatic Coast.