IHC Merwede books orders worth €200 for advanced vessels and equipment

IHC Merwede reports that it has recently secured orders worth €200 million for advanced vessels and equipment in its core dredging and offshore markets. The latest agreements confirmed by IHC Merwede include: a new pipelaying vessel for Subsea 7; an engineering and components package for the build of a trailing suction hopper dredge at BAE Systems (USA); an environmentally friendly deepwater dredge for Zheijang Dredging (China); and a 5,000-tonne capacity carousel-lay system for Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V.

These orders reinforce the group’s belief that there will be continued demand for its innovative vessels, advanced equipment and life-cycle support in the future.

IHC Merwede’s assignment with Subsea 7 is for the design, engineering and construction of a new advanced pipelaying vessel, which will have an overall length of 146 m a beam of 30 m and a Class-2 dynamic positioning system. This latest vessel will be used to develop deep-sea oilfields off the coast of Brazil on behalf of Petrobras.

In the U.S., IHC Merwede has been successful in securing an agreement for an engineering and components package with BAE Systems, which has been contracted to build a 6,540 cu.m trailing suction hopper dredge for Weeks Marine, Inc., USA. IHC Merwede earlier supplied the basic design of the vessel – which will have a length of 109 m and a beam of 24 m – to Weeks Marine, Inc. This important landmark has highlighted IHC Merwede’s ongoing strategy of internationalization.

Chinese company, Zheijang Dredging, has ordered an advanced environmentally friendly deep-water dredging vessel. This innovative cutter suction dredge will be optimized to work in polluted lake and reservoir dredging projects, and is unique in its class. The Beaver 4040 is the first cutter suction dredge designed for sustainable dredging to a depth of 40 m. This eco-friendly dredger will be built at the components factory of IHC China Support in Guangzhou.

Some of IHC Merwede’s business units have also acquired orders for specialist equipment, including a carousel-lay system for Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. The carousel features the IHC Engineering Business advanced hydraulic roller suspension system to increase reliability, reduce life-cycle costs and extend the lifetime of the system. The equipment will be manufactured, assembled and tested in IHC China Support’s components factory in Guangzou.

IHC Merwede’s President Govert Hamers says, “The recent successes in developing our business show that IHC Merwede’s reputation as the technology innovator remains intact. Our customers continue to value the reliability and efficiency of our products and services. With these orders in place, IHC Merwede is already on track to achieve its sales targets for this year.”

December 14, 2011