DEME's New Dredger Completes Sea Trials

DEME Group's newbuild trailing suction hopper dredger Meuse River has completed sea trials in the North Sea and will join the Belgium-based contractor's fleet in June 2020.

Built by Royal IHC in the Netherlands, the 7,950-cubic-meter Meuse River has the same design as DEME's existing hopper Scheldt River, which entered service in 2017. The dredgers feature several energy smart technologies developed by DEME and Royal IHC, such as a hybrid dredge pump drive system to reduce the effect of load variations.

For automation of the dredging process, IHC developed the intelligent IHC ECO automation package, which results in high dredge performance. Additionally, fuel efficiency is achieved with two-speed propulsion and combinator mode, optimizing fuel consumption in sailing and dredging conditions.

Length overall: 115.8 meters
Breadth: 25 meters
Depth: 9 meters
Design draft: 6.5 meters
Hopper capacity: 7,950 cubic meters
Dredging depth: 60 meters
Speed: 14 knots
Accommodation: 20 people