With the christening of the Lesse, Dutch Dredging from Sliedrecht, the Netherlands, has significantly expanded its fleet. The new trailing suction hopper dredger was built at the yard of MTG Dolphin in Varna, Bulgaria, under the supervision of Royal IHC.
The trailing suction hopper dredger is almost eighty metres long, sails a maximum of ten knots and can dredge to a depth of thirty metres. The hopper dredger has room for 2300 cubic metres of silt.
Practical Input from Employees
'The ship is designed for maintenance dredging and land reclamation projects and can be used worldwide,' explains Kees van de Graaf, Director of Dutch Dredging. 'The ship is a further development of the Albatros (2013) and Mahury (2015), in which our own employees have given a lot of practical input. This means that extra attention is paid to ease of use and maximum up-time through the use of wear-resistant components and maintenance-free equipment, among other things. Another innovation is IHC's Plumigator, which will significantly reduce the cloud of silt around the ship.'
The christening ceremony was performed on 23 May by Henny Korteweg, wife of the chairman of the Supervisory Board of Dredging Company de Boer, Leendert Korteweg. The Lesse will be operational in mid-July 2019.
About Dutch Dredging
Dutch Dredging, which goes by the name Baggerbedrijf De Boer in the Netherlands, is a medium-sized dredging company based in Sliedrecht. The company's activities consist of dredging and performing measurements and other hydraulic engineering activities in the broadest sense. The family business has existed for about half a century and has grown into an organisation with approximately 200 employees and thirty ships.
Picture: The Lesse under construction in Varna, Bulgaria (picture by Dutch Dredging).
