Long way round for dredger delivery crew

The 12,000 m3 capacity Chang Jiang Kou I departed from the IHC yard on the River Merwede in February with a Redwise crew of nine, including the Master, deck officers and engineers. They were supplemented by 12 Chinese crew members employed by the new owners for training and familiarization with the vessel, and a representative of the shipyard IHC.

Upon completion of equipping the vessel with all needed stores, fuel and provisions for the voyage, crew familiarization, drills, security assessments as well as ISM/ISPS certification, the vessel set sail for a final trial on the North Sea before commencing the passage to China. Before entering the port of Las Palmas for bunkers and stores, additional trials were undertaken for 24 hours to assist with research by MARIN on behalf of IHC off the coast of the Canary Islands.

The voyage, was undertaken ‘the long way home’ via Cape Town for additional bunkers and provisions, an alternative route rounding Cape of Good Hope in order to avoid the risks of piracy in the Somali Basin and western part of the North Indian Ocean, to its new home port of Shanghai for a total voyage distance of 14,200 nautical miles through Sunda Strait and the South China Sea.

When rounding the Cape of Good Hope the Chang Jiang Kou I passed two other transports under management of Redwise; the newbuild tug Svitzer Nereid on its way from Qingdao (China) to Progresso (Mexico) and the newbuild tug Crest Crystal with tow en route from Singapore to Maceico (Brazil).

The Chang Jiang Kou I arrived at Shanghai in May after the safe and successful sea passage. Prior to handing over to the new Chinese owners by IHC, successful dredging trials were conducted in Shanghai by IHC’s Dredge Master, assisted from shore by Redwise commercial agents in China and Redwise’s crew, with specialized personnel from IHC.

Redwise has been supporting dredger builders and dredging companies since 1906. In the past 20 years the company has conducted in excess of 70 such voyages, including 44 with hopper dredgers, 10 with split hopper barges, 17 with stone dumpers and fall pipe vessels, three with grab hopper dredgers as well as numerous supporting vessels including multicat types, Damen Shoalbusters, and survey vessels.