Van Oord christens backhoe dredger Simson

The Simson is a Backacter 1100, a floating excavator with three spud poles fitted to a pontoon. The largest category of hydraulic dredging crane in the world, it was designed and built in the Netherlands at the Yard De Donge and will be used to dredge ports and provides services to the offshore industry worldwide.

An important feature of the Backacter 1100 design is the placement of the hydraulic pump engines in the vessel’s hull. In addition to keeping the engines away from salt water, the fuel tanks are also locted in the barge’s 65m by 20m by 4m hull. As a result, it is not necessary to stop the machine while fueling tanks located on it, as is the case with previous dipper dredger designs in which a conventional backhoe is mounted on a barge.

Desiging the dipper as an integral part of the barge allows the barge spuds to be operated from the dipper’s cabin. Operator fatigue is reduced by a shock absorbing elastic foundation integrated into the dredger’s deck.

Although variable conditions and operator experience determine productivity, De Donge has estimated that the Backacter 1100 can achieve 810 cu/m per hour at 20m depth, increasing to some 1,012 cu/m per hour a 17m depth. Classed by Bureau Veritas, the vessel is capable of working in wave heights of up to 2.5m.

Simson is powered by IMO compliant twin Cummins QSK60-(D)M diesels rated 2,547hp at 1,800 rpm. They turn eight Rexroth double variable displacement axial piston pumps through water cooled gears.

The vessel was moored alongside the Rotterdam Cruise Terminal next to Van Oord’s newest trailing suction hopper dredger, the Vox Máxima.

The Simson is the sister ship of the Goliath, launched earlier this year. It will be equipped with a grab that holds 25 m3 of material and can work at a dredging depth of up to 26m. Simson’s first project will be dredging in the port of Flushing, the Netherlands. In total some 3m cu/m will be dredged.

Van Oord has undertaken a major investment programme of more than €1bn, with the Vox Máxima and the two backhoes as part of that programme.