More capacity to take up the slack

Van Oord, which has already ploughed ¢1.1bn ($1.7bn) into a newbuilding programme that should come to fruition in the next three to four years, will return the lengthened dredger to the Middle East where it will be deployed on the Palm Deira project, the third and largest palm island in Dubai.

Meanwhile, what could be the world’s second largest trailing suction hopper dredger will be delivered to the Jan De Nul Group after inking contracts with Spain’s La Naval shipyard in Bilbao for a 30,500m³ capacity unit.

This vessel completes Jan De Nul’s present investment programme for hopper dredgers, ranging from the 46,000m³ mega hoppers Cristóbal Colón and Leiv Eiriksson down to the 3,400m³ Alvar Nuñez Cabeça de Vaca and Sebastiano Caboto.

The new vessel is designed for operation in shallow or confined waters, having a design draught of only 11m and a length of only 161.5m, and will be delivered by the end of 2010. An option for a second identical vessel has been agreed.