In mid-April of 2016, the Indian Navy’s grab hopper dredger, Dredger-1 was preparing to depart its birth shipyard following a comprehensive one-year warrantee review.
Tebma Shipyards Senior Vice President, M. Balasubramaniam, explained that the 44.15 by 12.2-meter vessel was designed to meet precise deepening requirements around docks and port installations and in riverine or other places where deepening of specific areas is required.
The vessel has a 320-HP Cummins-855-powered forward-mounted crane supplied by Titagarth Wagons. The crane’s 15.2-meter boom has a working radius of 12 meters and hoisting capacity of 10.5 tonnes at a 46-degree boom angle.
The crane’s grab bucket has a 3-cubic meter capacity to hold 4.5 tonnes of dredge materials. The crane is capable of dredging in depths up to ten meters. The crane transfers the dredged material to the ship’s hopper which is of 300 cubic meter capacity, (500 tonnes).
The dredged material in the hopper id dumped at open through a set of eight hopper doors controlled by hydraulic rams and chains over pulleys.
The main propulsion for the dredger is a pair of Cummins KTA38-M engines each producing 1000 HP at 1800 RPM. These engines are built in India and meet the Indian Navy’s policy of supporting domestic suppliers.
With the one-year warrantee review completed, the Dredger-1, has left the Tebma Shipyard and will resume duties with the Indian Navy at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai.