Wadden Sea News

Jan De Nul Group together with its consortium partners LS Cable & System and Denys has signed the contracts for two 525 HVDC cable systems for the two grid connection systems BalWin4 and LanWin1. These mark the first two contracts signed under the long-term framework agreement that TenneT and Jan De Nul have signed earlier this year. The projects comprise the design, manufacturing, transport, installation, protection and testing of three 525 kV cable systems for connecting offshore…

Dutch shipbuilding conglomerate Damen announced it has delivered a new shallow draft vessel to the German energy infrastructure construction company Bohlen & Doyen Bau GmbH, a subsidiary of Friedrich Vorwerk. The new Multi Cat 1908 SD workboat, named Scholle, is the first marine asset to be bought by the company in many years.The 19.4-meter vessel has been bought for use on a multi-year project supporting transmission system operator TenneT on its offshore grid connection systems in the North Sea.

The car carrier burning off the Dutch coast since Tuesday night is carrying nearly 500 electric vehicles, ship charter company "K" Line said on Friday, significantly more than the 25 initially reported by the coastguard.The fire on the Panamanian-registered Fremantle Highway, which was carrying new cars, resulted in the death of an Indian crew member and injury of seven others who jumped overboard to escape the flames.There were 3,783 vehicles on board, including 498 battery electric vehicles, a Tokyo-based spokesperson for K Line (Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha), which had chartered the vessel, said.

A burning car carrier was drifting off the Dutch coast on Thursday, the coastguard said, a day after the Panamanian-registered ship caught alight, causing the death of an Indian crew member and injuring several others.The 199-metre (653 ft) Fremantle Highway caught fire overnight Tuesday and several of the 23 crew jumped overboard to escape the flames and were rescued by the Dutch coastguard.The coastguard said on its website Thursday the cause of the fire was unknown, but an emergency responder is heard in a recording released by Dutch broadcaster RTL saying "the fire started in the battery o

Three new Incat Crowther-designed fast ferries have been delivered to serve the residents of Germany’s North Sea Island communities, who are set to receive a new commuter ferry service to the mainland.The new ferries will service three busy routes between the North Frisian Islands and Neuharlingersiel, located on the north coast of Germany’s mainland.The three vessels, named WattnExpress, Inselexpress I and Watt Sprinter, have been constructed by Singapore-based Penguin Shipyard International.According to Incat Crowther…

At least two people died when two boats collided on Friday in the Dutch Wadden Sea close to Terschelling island, and two people are still missing, local authorities said.A ferry boat and a smaller water taxi collided early on Friday morning, causing people on board of the smaller boat to fall in the water.While four people were rescued shortly after the collision, two passengers died and two were still missing on Friday afternoon. Local media citing the coast guard reported the…

An unmanned vessel is now surveying more than 3,500 nautical miles of the Western Galveston Bay, near the Houston Ship Channel.DEA Marine Services, a division of David Evans and Associates, Inc. (DEA), in Vancouver, Wash., equipped its survey boat Sigsbee with a Sea Machines Robotics SM300 autonomous-command and remote-helm control system to fulfill a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) contract.Sigsbee, which is serving as an autonomous daughter craft for the project…

Rederij Doeksen’s Vlieland underwent repairs at Damen Shiprepair Harlingen (DSHl) in the Netherlands following a recent incident that took place as the passenger/car ferry was departing the harbor in Harlingen.The Vlieland operates a ferry service across the Wadden Sea between Harlingen in the north of the Netherlands and the island of Vlieland, and the recent accident caused the vessel’s SB engine room became flooded. DSHL said it carried out an emergency operation, closing the hole…

The first of two new 70-meter liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fueled RoPax ferries for Dutch operator Rederij Doeksen has completed sea trials in the Netherlands.The BMT-designed Willem Barentsz, and sister vessel Willem de Vlamingh, were built by Strategic Marine Shipyard in Vietnam while final outfitting and commissioning were completed by Rederij Doeksen.With an operating area within the Wadden Sea, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the main focus for Rederij Doeksen led by its managing director Paul Melles was on reducing the environmental impact of the vessel operation.

Dutch shipyard Royal Niestern Sander has begun building a new aft for a passenger ferry that will be converted to liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion for German operator AG Ems.The shipyard is designing and building a completely new stern section to replace the one existing on the 1986-built passenger ship Münsterland, which will be fited with dual fuel engines, LNG storage tanks, propulsion systems, all LNG installations, pipelines and other systems.Niestern Sander was awarded the contract to undertake the project in July 2019…

A hydrographic survey vessel will operate in multiple areas of the Wadden Sea, commanded from shore by personnel in an office in Amersterdam.U.S.-based Sea Machines Robotics, a developer of autonomous command and advanced perception systems, said Thursday that Dutch company Deep BV will equip one of its vessels with a Sea Machines SM300 autonomous control system to enable remote command of the vessel, including navigation and positioning, the control of on-board auxiliaries and sensors, and ship-to-shore data flow.

Wärtsilä was selected to carry out a retrofitting project aimed at lessening the environmental footprint of a ferry operating on the Wadden Sea, a UNESCO World Heritage listed area in the south eastern end of the North Sea.The retrofit will enable Münsterland, a RoPax ferry owned by German operator Aktien-Gesellschaft ‘Ems’ (AG Ems), to use LNG as fuel, significantly reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.Work will take place at the Koninklijke Niestern-Sander B.V. yard in the Netherlands…

Switzerland-based MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company confirms that significant progress has been made in an unprecedented clean-up operation in the North Sea and on the beaches of the Netherlands and Germany."We would like to thank the authorities and volunteers in these countries for their support in the response," said a press note from the world's second-largest shipping line in terms of container vessel capacity.More than 250 containers fell from the ship “MSC Zoe” during a night of heavy weather on 2 January.MSC responded as quickly as possible to the incident and immediately engaged Ardent Global, internationally-renown experts in marine salvage and emergency response…

Clean-up efforts after a container ship spill off the Dutch coast are being hampered by rough weather although progress is being made, the Swiss based vessel's owner MSC said on Wednesday.In one of the worst incidents off the coast of the Netherlands, more than 250 containers - some holding hazardous chemicals - fell off the MSC Zoe, one of the world's largest container ships, during a North Sea storm on Jan. 2."This week, a storm is impacting the area being cleaned and unfortunately this will interrupt some operations," MSC said on Wednesday.

Rijkswaterstaat (part of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment and responsible for the design, construction, management and maintenance of the main infrastructure facilities in the Netherlands) has awarded the Afsluitdijk project to the Levvel consortium. This joint venture is formed by Van Oord Aberdeen Infrastructure Partners B.V. (46%), BAM PPP PGGM Infrastructure Coöperatie U.A. (46%) and RebelValley B.V. (8%). Levvel will be responsible for design, build, finance and 25 years maintenance of the strengthened Afsluitdijk. Construction works are expected to start in the autumn of 2018. In 2023, works on the Afsluitdijk will be completed. The net present value of the project is approximately EUR 550 million.

The first two preproduction units of the new mobile MTU gas engine from Rolls-Royce have completed performance tests and were accepted by the customer at the beginning of December. MTU delivered the first two of a total of four 16-cylinder Series 4000 gas engines, each with an output of 1,492 kW, for two new catamarans. From 2018, the two aluminum vessels will operate ferry services on the Dutch Wadden Sea. They are currently being built by Strategic Marine’s shipyard in Vietnam for the Dutch shipping company Doeksen.

As ferry operators search for efficiency to reduce pollutants and operating costs, the importance of design, quality construction, and efficient propulsion become ever more important. Such is clearly the case with the Netherlands-based ferry operator Rederij Doeksen, whose two BMT Nigel Gee designed ferries are currently under construction at Strategic Marine’s Vietnam yard for operations between Harlingen on the mainland and the islands of Terschelling and Vlieland. in the Netherlands’ Wadden Sea.

A rescue team freed the grounded freighter "Glory Amsterdam" from a sandbar near the North Sea island of Langeoog and ruled out an oil leak, German authorities said on Thursday. Two large towing ships pulled the freighter to deep water and 16,000 tons of ballast water were pumped out of it, said Simone Starke, spokeswoman for Germany's Central Command for Maritime Emergencies. Environmental and fishery groups warned of dire consequences to the Wadden Sea, a UNESCO World Heritage site, if the ship began leaking 1,800 tonnes of heavy oil and 140 tonnes of marine diesel on board but there was no damage to the hull, authorities said. "No leaking was found during the towing process. An oil monitoring plane will accompany the barges towards Wilhelmshaven," said Starke.

It may take until Friday to free the grounded freighter "Glory Amsterdam" from a sand bar near the North Sea island of Langeoog, German authorities said on Wednesday, but no holes or cracks are evident in the ship's hull to trigger an oil leak. Shallow waters off the island had forced officials to revise initial plans to dislodge the 225-metre (742-foot) freighter, which ran aground during a storm that killed at least six people in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. Environmental and fishery groups have warned of dire environmental consequences to the Wadden Sea…

U.K.-based manufacturer of ballast water treatment systems based on unique inert gas technology Coldharbour Marine said it has signed a contract with Lloyd’s Register (LR) to oversee the complete range of tests required by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) in its type approval process. LR has Independent Laboratory Approval from the USCG and will work closely in the type approval tests with Marine Eco Analytics (MEA), a test laboratory in the Netherlands. Revised and more comprehensive…

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) announces that the Dutch Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) intends to award the contract for the reinforcement of the Houtrib dike to Boskalis and its partner Van Oord. The contract carries a value of EUR 90 million of which Boskalis' share amounts to EUR 45 million. The project entails the reinforcement of the Houtrib dike on both sides with sand and rock over a distance of 25 kilometers. The activities will be carried out in the period 2017-2020. The dike reinforcement project is part the Dutch Flood Protection Program, an alliance of Rijkswaterstaat and all district water boards aimed at reinforcing primary dikes in a more innovative and robust manner.

Rederij Doeksen has contracted Damen Shiprepair Harlingen to carry out the conversion of its 47.15-meter-long freight catamaran, Noord-Nederland. The conversion work will provide Rederij Doeksen with increased capacity to manage seasonal fluctuations in freight demands. The repair yard has already begun preparations for the conversion process. A major part of their work will be lengthening the vessel’s hull by about 20 meters. This is scheduled for January 201, when the yard will cut the ship in half and insert a new mid-section to bring the vessel’s total length to 67.25 meters.

Successful shipboard testing has shown that Damen Green Solutions’ InvaSave mobile ballast water treatment solution is capable of providing an IMO type approved backup in a port in the event of a failure in a vessel’s on board treatment systems to uptake or discharge ballast water. The BWT solution can even serve as a port-based alternative for those ship owners that may not want to retrofit an onboard treatment system or be deployed in a port with a sudden outbreak of marine pests.