MHI Receives Dredger Order

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has received an order for a large size dredge from the Suez Canal Authority of Egypt and has signed the contract recently. The vessel, which will be the largest dredger ever built in Japan with a hopper capacity, will be built at the Kobe Shipyard and Machinery Works of MHI and is slated for the delivery in June, 2004. To date, MHI has delivered six dredgers to the Suez Canal Authority. This order is the first dredger order for MHI to receive from the Suez Canal Authority in the past 18 years, to which MHI delivered a dredger with the hopper capacity of 6,500 cubic meters in 1984, which was ordered in 1983. The vessel is of a trailing suction hopper dredger having hold capacity of 10,000 cubic meters. The vessel is capable of dredging silt, mud, sand and gravel by means of two drag arms situated on both side of the vessel. The dredged materials are to be discharged through the conical bottoms valves equipped on the bottom of the mud hold. The vessel is also provided with the land discharging system and bow discharging system. The vessel will be the most advanced dredger, incorporating the newest control system and achieving automated operation that will result in significant laborsaving.