Grab dredger delivery for South Africa
The South African company Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has named its 750m3 grab hopper dredger, ‘Italeni’, during a special ceremony hosted by the shipbuilder IHC Merwede in the shipyard of IHC Merwedes partner, MTG Dolphin, in Varna, Bulgaria.
IHC Global Production, part of IHC Merwede, designed, built and delivered the vessel, which has sailed to Durban, South Africa.
The 62m LOA, 15m beam, 3.9m draft Italeni was designed and built to achieve low maintenance costs. It will replace the current grab hopper dredger, Crane, which has recently been equipped with a new grab crane. This equipment will be transferred to the Italeni after its arrival in South Africa. The Italeni will be used primarily for maintenance work in various ports throughout the country.
The vessel will be capable of dredging to depths of 25m and features a 750m3 hopper capacity. Total installed power of 3,203kW allows the vessel to achieve a speed of 11 knots. There is accommodation on board for 18 people.
The dredger is named after the battle of Italeni that took place near the Itala Mountains, where the Zulu King Dingane defeated the Voortrekkers in 1838.
Tau Morwe, TNPA’s chief executive said: “The new dredger will ensure that we have the capacity to meet demand in line with our strategic objectives, as well as providing spare dredging capacity that we can sell on to neighbouring ports.”
Fer Tummers, managing director of IHC Merwede’s Dredging Division added: “The Italeni is not the first vessel that IHC Merwede has built for TNPA. IHC Merwede has already proven itself to be a reliable and professional partner with the successful delivery of the trailing suction hopper dredger Isandlwana in 2010.
“We are also proud to be building a third vessel for TNPA, a 5,500m3 trailing suction hopper dredger. This will be the largest vessel of its kind to operate in South Africa and a sign of our continuing successful cooperation.
“As part of our ongoing commitment to TNPA, IHC Merwede is glad to be participating in economic developments in South Africa by implementing a Supplier Development Plan to help improve local industry. This initiative will include the transfer of some of our knowledge and advanced technology to enhance the skills of the workforce within the region.”
By Larz Bourne
