The first piece of steel for Van Oord’s new large-scale self-propelled cutter suction dredger has been ceremonially cut at the IHC Merwede yard in Kinderdijk. Michel Twigt, Van Oord project team manager, performed the ceremony. The cutter will be operational in late October 2011.
The ceremony marks the start of the vessel’s construction after detailed engineering. The vessel – which will have an overall length of 129 m, a beam of 27.80 m, and total installed power of 24,000 kW – will be one of the most powerful and modern cutter suction dredgers in the world and the biggest cutter in the Van Oord fleet. A name will be selected in the next few months.
‘Expanding our fleet with our first self-propelled cutter suction dredger is an important step for Van Oord,’ says Pieter van Oord, CEO. ‘Building this cutter suction dredger will reinforce our position in this key segment. This investment completes our EUR 1 billion investment programme for 2007-2011.’
Source:https://www.vanoord.com[www.vanoord.com]
