NIJMEGEN - Alewijnse Marine, the leading specialist in marine electrical and automation technology, has been awarded the contract for the design, delivery and commissioning of the complete electrical and automation installations on board two new trailing suction hopper dredgers (TSHD). The vessels are currently under construction at Barkmeijer Shipyards in Stroobos, the Netherlands, for Hanson UK, a producer of aggregates, concrete and associated products. Delivery of the two vessels is scheduled for January 2019 and June 2019 respectively.
Hopper dredgers
The TSHDs are designed to extract sand and gravel aggregates from the seabed. Each vessel has a single suction pipe and a hopper capacity of 3,000 m³. These are the first new aggregate dredgers to be commisioned by Hanson UK in more than 25 years and are the first steps in a programme to replace its entire fleet of eight hopper dredgers. The new vessels will deliver major improvements in fuel consumption, reliability and CO2 emissions.
Dredging monitoring
The complete electric and automation outfitting is the responsibility of Alewijnse Marine. This includes the design, building, installation and commissioning of the switchboards, consoles and the dedicated alarm, monitoring and control systems. It also includes the design, engineering, supply and commissioning of the dredging automation system, including visualisation, monitoring and process control.
Barkmeijer
Barkmeijer Shipyards and Alewijnse Marine have been working together successfully for many years. Earlier projects include the joint delivery of hopper dredgers UKD Orca (2010) and Charlock (2016) and three pilot station vessels built for the Dutch Pilots’ Organization; the Polaris, Pollux and Procyon (2012 - 2014). Alewijnse has been contracted again for these two new TSHDs because of its extensive knowledge and experience combined with the long and strong relationship with Barkmeijer.
Expertise
Martin Terpstra, Operational Manager at Alewijnse Marine, is very pleased with the assignment: “We are very proud to have been awarded this contract and it confirms the good cooperation between Barkmeijer Shipyards and Alewijnse Marine. We look forward to demonstrating our electrical and automation expertise in this project and to delivering jointly two, high quality vessels to Hanson.”
