Two New Workboats for Dutch Dredging

Dredging contractor Dutch Dredging welcomed two new vessels to its fleet last week during a naming ceremony in Cayenne, French Guiana.

The new vessels, Papillon and Fregate, were delivered to Boer Remorquage SARL, a joint venture involving Dutch Dredging and Iskes Towage & Salvage. The newcomers will go to work in the ports of Cayenne and Kourou in French Guiana.

The investment is a response to the 12-year contract that the consortium signed in 2016 with the Grand Port Maritime de Guyane. In addition to maintenance dredging work, both vessels will be used to assist shipping and as standby and firefighting vessels in emergencies.

The Fregate, a Damen WID-Tug-2915-HYBRID built by the Polish yard SAFE in Gdansk, is the more unusual of the two vessels. The 29.2-meter-long vessel is not only a dredger (with the AIRSET water and air pressure method) and tug at the same time, it has also been fitted with a hybrid drive, allowing it to sail on electricity.

The smaller of the two vessels, Papillon, is 22.7 meters long (212 gross tonnage) and was completed earlier this year by Damen Shipyards Hardinxveld in line with French regulations. The ASD Tug 2310 SD (shallow draught: 3.1 meters) will mainly be used for assistance in Kourou.