UK Shipyard Wins Long-term Dredger Drydock Contract

A&P Tees, part of A&P North East, has won an exclusive contract from UK dredge contractor CEMEX UK Marine, part of the CEMEX UK Group, for the drydocking of the company’s three trailing suction hopper dredgers over a five-year period.

Due to the severity of the work undertaken by dredgers, it is expected that each vessel will be drydocked on a regular basis.

The first vessel, the 5,022 m3 Sand Falcon already visited the shipyard during March/April this year, and the 2,700 m3 Sand Heron and the 4,000 m3 Sand Fulmar are due in the yard during July and August respectively. Apart from the normal drydocking operations, each vessel will also have work carried out on all the dredge equipment such as pipes, hoppers, pumps etc.

The dredging industry is one of the main markets for A&P Tees – the yard also carries out work on such vessels owned by other dredge contractors, including UK Dredging, Britannia Aggregates and PD Ports. Currently in the yard, undergoing general repairs is PD Ports’ 1,530 m3 trailing suction hopper dredger Cleveland County. Also currently in the yard is the Svitzer tug Svitzer Redbridge, which is the fifth tug from this owner this year – with another three/four to come.

A&P North East operates two graving docks at the Tees facility – 175.30 m x 22.20 m and 120.00 m x 17.30 m, and one main graving dock at Hebburn on Tyneside – 259.00 m x 44.00 m.