IHC launches first LNG-fueled hopper dredge

DECEMBER 5, 2016 — Royal IHC launched the world’s first LNG fueled trailing suction hopper dredge (TSHD) in a December 3 ceremony at its Kinderdijk shipyard in the Netherlands.

Built for DEME, the Belgian dredging, hydraulic engineering and environmental solutions group, the 83.5 m x 18 m TSHD has a 3,500 cu.m. hopper capacity and will be named Minerva at an official name giving and christening ceremony in the spring of 2017 in Zeebrugge, Belgium.

“The launch of this vessel is an important milestone for the dredging industry,” says IHC’s Executive Director Shipbuilding, Arjan Klijnsoon. “IHC had already started to investigate the integration of LNG into dredging vessels in 2012, enabling us to understand the challenges of this green solution. This gave us a solid basis to work from when DEME started its tender process, and helped us to materialize DEME’s preliminary design for two LNG-powered TSHDs. We are proud to have made a huge step forward in dredge design and to be able to limit the environmental impact of DEME’s vessels. We want to thank DEME for their close cooperation and for giving us the opportunity to build the world’s first LNG-powered hopper dredge.”

“The design of our new vessels is inspired by a drive to continuously innovate from an ecological and efficiency perspective,” says Alain Bernard, Director and CEO DEME Group. “As such, DEME continues to be at the forefront of the industry and significantly reduces the environmental impact of its operations.”

The dual-fuel (diesel and LNG) dredge has a Green Passport and a Clean Design notation, complying and exceeding with the strictest international emission requirements.

The availability of the vessel has also been increased since it meets the requirements for the extended dry-docking system. Ships under this special program get a maximum interval between drydckings of 7.5 years (instead of five years) by replacing certain dry-ockings with in-water surveys.